Katrina and the Coastal Parishes

In the years after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, I wondered what had happened to the displaced residents of the U.S. Gulf Coast who lost homes and property in 2005? Over a million coastal residents were displaced in 2005 – but where were they five years later? Did they go back to their devastated homes and communities? Did they relocate permanently inland to presumably safer ground? Knowing how disaster survivors are faring in the years after these events is important to me, so my students and I began a new research study to compare coastal residents who returned to rebuild their communities and former coastal residents who relocated permanently inland to the greater Baton Rouge area after Katrina. Data collection for this project began in early 2010 and was completed in November of 2012. Over 220 Louisiana residents participated in this study [research that addresses post-disaster recovery and resilience in the wake of Hurricane Katrina].

Many thanks to all those who participated! At this time, data scoring and analyses are complete. Some of the publications from this project are listed below:

Cherry, K. E., Sampson, L., Nezat, P. F., Cacamo, A., Marks, L. D., & Galea, S. (2015). Long-term psychological outcomes in older adults after disaster: Relationships to religiosity and social support. Aging & Mental Health, 19(5), 430-443. 

Stanko, K. E., Cherry, K. E., Ryker, K. S., Mughal, F., Marks, L. D., Silva Brown, J., Sullivan, M. C., Bruner, J., Welsh, D. A., Su, L. J., & Jazwinski, S. M. (2015) Looking for the silver lining: Benefit finding after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in middle-aged and older adults. Current Psychology, 34, 564-575.

Cherry, K. E., Sampson, L., Galea, S., Marks, L. D., Nezat, P. F., Baudoin, K.H., & Lyon, B.A. Optimism and hope after multiple disasters: Relationships to health-related quality of life (2017). Journal of Loss and Trauma, 22(1), 61-76. 

Stanko, K. E., Cherry, K. E., Marks, L. D., Sampson, L., Ryker, K. S., Barrios, B., Anderson, R., Sanchez, S. & Allen, K. (2018). When reliance on religion falters: Religious coping and post-traumatic stress symptoms in older adults after multiple disasters. Journal of Religion, Spirituality, and Aging, 30, 292-313.

Cherry, K. E., Sampson, L., Galea, S., Marks, L. D., Stanko, K. E., Nezat, P. F., & Baudoin, K. H. (2018). Spirituality, humor, and resilience after natural and technological disasters. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 50(5), 492-501.