The Mental Health of Children during Disasters (Research Proposal Sample)

The Mental Health of Children during Disaster
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The Mental Health of Children during Disasters
Part I Preliminary Considerations
Children are the most vulnerable population in every society. Their protection from any risk; either social, economic, health or political need to be utmost priority in any nation or society. After any disaster, children are bogged with fear, anxiety, and sleep disruption difficulty in concentrating anger outburst or even sadness. It is thus important to learn children’s mental health after occurrence of a disaster in order to pursue appropriate measure required to mitigate the related risks. According to Shamsha (2018), about 224 million children are affected by disaster such as hurricanes, earthquakes and tornados among other disasters across the globe. Similarly, the author also noted that about 85.2 million children in North America are mentally affected by disasters which impacts their emotions and mental wellbeing. In the case of United States alone, an average of 21.5 disasters were experienced annually over the past decade. This makes the United States one of the top notch countries that have been affected by disaster among the top five countries across the world. In essence the top five countries referred to in this paper frequently encounter natural disaster as also illustrated by Guha-Sapir et al. (2017). For instance, Guha-Sapir et al illustrated that the winter storm itself affected about 85 million people. Among the affected individuals, children accounted for about 25% within the United States population. Consequently, these children were affected mentally thus impacting their cognitive capabilities. In a study by Becker-Blease et al. (2010), the authors realized that about 13.9% of children between the age of 2 to 17 years were exposed to disaster in their lifetime which turned to impact their mental health. Similarly, the authors also realized that about 4.1% of the children surveyed had experienced disaster back in the years. From these statistics, it was evident that a significant number of children have been exposed to natural disaster. Consequently, there is no doubt that these children, in one way or the other, had been mentally affected due to the disaster they have faced in their lifetime. Besides, these constitute a population that require particular needs while also they are faced with particular health risks associated with a disaster as also reiterated by the National Commission on Children and Disasters, (2010).
From this preliminary background, it is important to further explore the mental health of children during disaster and understand appropriate strategies through which children can be stabilized during the menace of natural disaster. The researcher is thus motivated to undertake the present study in order to understand children emotional behavior and the connection of the same to their mental health such that appropriate strategies can be developed to stabilize children at the occurrence of any natural disaster. The present research will be beneficial and contribute to the literature body thus bridging the gap of enhancing children mental health as well as the related healthcare systems associated with child care. It will also inform on appropriate strategies that would enhance child cognitive development even during the disaster. This calls for the researcher to engage in robust evaluation of various research methods and approaches that can be used to understand children mental health during disaster and relate the same with appropriate mental health mitigation measures.
This paper illustrates approaches that will be used to gather information and explore the mental health of children during disaster. The research approach chosen illustrates the key paradigms and philosophical strategies that apply in a research context to reach research goals and objectives. Through the approach, the researcher justifies why specific methods outlined at each subsection were adequate to achieve the study purpose and objectives as outlined in the introductory part of the research. Similarly, the chapter justifies how the researcher will be able to obtain data sources that will be used to gather information. It also outlines the ethical considerations put in place to ensure right protection during data collection and reporting. The chapter begins with the preliminary considerations put in place to offset the research. The preliminary considerations provided the underlying background that motivated the researcher to undertake the study. As was noted, a significant number of children have encountered disaster in their life. Similarly, it was realized that such disaster has had a consequential impact on their mental health yet there are limited approaches through which children can be stabilized and their mental health improved during such occurrence. The preliminary background thus presented a “skeleton” from which the researcher could start with and pursue the research in the most adequate and appropriate manner. The second section (which is this section), explores the various methodological approaches applied in social research. The researcher was thus able to choose the most viable and practical approach suitable for the present study. The third section analyzed the theoretical models related to disaster and children’s mental health. Theories provide vibrant background to understand how children behave during disaster and relates the same with their mental health during disaster. In this case, the theoretical model was important as it gave the researcher Ideas to explore while pursuing the present research. The fourth section was the ethical consideration which illustrates how the researcher will ensure right protection standards during the study.
Part two of the paper delves into designing the research with adequate statement of the problem, development of questionnaires and hypotheses as well as the methods that are viable for the present research including the qualitative, quantitative and mixed method approaches.
Chapter 1: the Selection of a Research Approach
There are several research approaches that can be used to explore and understand a phenomenon of interest. Research approach described under this section details the procedures and plan for outlining the methodology, data collection as well as the analysis and how the data gathered will be used. The mostly used research approach that support in detailing the plan for the study include the inductive research approach as well as the deductive research approach. In inductive research approach, researchers engage in observing subjects gathering information and drawing patterns from the observations. At the end of inductive research studies, authors are able to develop theories in line with the interpretations made. Hayes et al. (2010) illustrated that inductive research approach can be used to make predictions about novel cases through the use of observations and existing knowledge. Similarly Feeney et al. (2007) also illustrated that without inductive reasoning, it would be difficult to generalize from one instance to another or make predictions by driving scientific hypotheses. In this case, inductive reasoning present as one of the most viable and pivotal research approach especially when using positivism philosophical paradigm.