Promoting Disaster Resilience Through Use Of Interdisciplinary Teams: A Program Evaluation Of The Integrated Care Team Approach

One approach humanitarian organizations may use to support community resilience following mass fatality disasters is by integrating services through formation and deployment of interdisciplinary teams. One such model is the Integrated Care Team (ICT) used by the American Red Cross. This paper describes a program evaluation conducted on the ICT, in which 120 ICT participants completed a survey. Although fewer than half of the respondents agreed that ICT members had sufficient ICT-specific training, the majority of respondents understood their role and that of others in ICT. The majority agreed that the ICT effectively provided health services, mental health services, and spiritual care. The majority agreed that ICT effectively used community resources and provided financial support. Recommendations stemming from the evaluation include implementation of more consistent ICT-specific training within the context of interdisciplinary collaboration, establishment of clear protocols for use of financial and other resources, and future research into effectiveness of the ICT approach.