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HELSEVEL-H-Gode og effektive helse-, omsorgs- og velferdstjenester

Preparing an international study of health service utilization in the aftermath of terrorist attacks

Awarded: NOK 0.27 mill.

The overall aim of this pre-project was to prepare a study that will generate knowledge on health service utilization in the wake for terrorist attacks in order to strengthen the international public health response to terrorist attacks. In accordance with this pre-project's objectives, workshops and meetings have been arranged to gather researchers working with terrorist attacks and other collective trauma in several countries. The pre-project has thus enhanced the international cooperation related to health services research in the context of terrorist attacks and disasters. Regular meetings have been conducted with researchers in France working with the studies of individuals affected by the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015 to plan the collection of comparable data on health service utilization and medication prescriptions before and after the attack and harmonize the measures with those in the study of the survivors of the Utøya attack in Norway. A project team of researchers from Norway, France and the Netherlands with expertise in disaster-related and/or health services research has been established. A research proposal for the main project: "Prospective Research On Terrorist Events and Collective Trauma - A cross-border study of health service utilization and prescriptions" has been prepared and submitted. To ensure a sound user perspective in the project, there have been several meetings and participation in conferences with important user groups identified in this project, including victims' associations, victim support associations, clinicians, policy makers and researchers throughout the project period.

The anticipated outcomes were to strengthen the international collaboration of health services research in the context of terror attacks through the implementation of and participation in international workshops, conferences and meetings. Further, to plan the collection of comparable data on health service utilization and prescriptions in the context of the terror attacks in Norway and in France, and prepare a proposal for international research calls. The achieved outcomes were the same as those anticipated. As a relevant call was announced from the the Research Council of Norway, a research proposal for a main project was prepared and submitted during the project period. Additional outcomes that were achieved were: -the publication of an article and an editorial in the Journal of the French Public Health Agency. Both were covered in French national media in connection with the commemoration the Paris November attacks. -the publication of a popular science article.

The proposed pre-project involves preparatory work that is essential to realize the planned main project; which is an international study of the health services provided in the aftermath of terrorist attacks. An important part of the pre-project, is to prepare a new survey wave in the French studies of the terrorist attacks in Paris in 2015, in order to obtain comparable data with the Norwegian Utøya attack study. The next survey wave in the Paris attacks studies is planned to take place in the end of 2018, and the surveys are to be prepared and questionnaires to be developed during spring/autumn 2018. Furthermore, the pre-project will cover a seminar where we will invite researchers from multiple European countries who are working with research related to terrorist attacks and other disaster to exhange experiences, discuss how to strenghten the preparation and implementation of post-disaster research and build international networks.

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Funding scheme:

HELSEVEL-H-Gode og effektive helse-, omsorgs- og velferdstjenester