Abstract
Research aimed at elucidating the effects of community-wide or traumatic stress on the health and well-being of exposed populations represents a classic function of epidemiology. In this instance, the primary purpose is to delineate the distribution of illness or impairment in the population and the stress-related risk factors that are associated with both incidence (new onsets of disorder) and prevalence (recurrent episodes). As is true for any type of exposure, there are two basic approaches to investigating the effects of community-wide stressors. As Schlesselman and Stolley (1982) straightforwardly note: “One is to proceed from cause to effect; the other is to proceed from effect to cause” (p. 10).
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Bromet, E.J. (1995). Methodological Issues in Designing Research on Community-Wide Disasters with Special Reference to Chernobyl. In: Hobfoll, S.E., de Vries, M.W. (eds) Extreme Stress and Communities: Impact and Intervention. NATO ASI Series, vol 80. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8486-9_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8486-9_12
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