DOI: 10.3886/icpsr39339
title: Katrina@10: Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study (GCAFH) Subsample, Louisiana and Mississippi, 2005-2019
title: Archival Version

description: The NIH-funded Katrina@10 Program consists of an interrelated set of three primary data collection projects that focus on specific sub-populations who were uniquely affected by Hurricane Katrina: households along Louisiana and Mississippi's Gulf Coast, low-income parents from New Orleans, and Vietnamese families living in New Orleans. In addition, the program contains two secondary analyses of data that are more broadly representative of the overall affected population, and three cores (Administrative, Data Collection, Data Management and Dissemination) to support the set of research projects. The following research questions represent the studies together as a whole:

How well does the socio-ecological model of disaster recovery developed by the research team (Abramson et al. 2010) predict recovery across the three cohort studies?
How do trajectories of long-term recovery differ among and within these sub-populations?
How do the trajectories of recovery compare to those of mainstream populations?
How do the effects of predisposing factors (such as poverty) and degree-of-impact (such as flooding depth) vary among the three sub-populations?
How do interpretations of the disaster, resilience, and recovery differ among respondents?
What are the determinants of long-term recovery in domains such as mental and physical health, socio-economic status, and community and social roles? How are these domains related to each other across individuals and across sub-populations?

This collection contains data from the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study (GCAFH), a longitudinal cohort study of families living in the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast who had been displaced or sustained extensive household damage due to Hurricane Katrina. The GCAFH research team collected survey data from the initial cohort in 2006 (n=1,079) with multiple follow-ups through 2010, assessing post-disaster recovery via indicators such as economic recovery, social engagement, personal resilience, community cohesion, infrastructure stability, and physical and mental health.
The data in this collection is from the most recent survey follow-up with participants, conducted between 2016 and 2018. A public-use version (DS1) and restricted-use version (DS2) are available. Open-ended responses, continuous respondent age, continuous total household income, and a 7-category race variable have been masked in the public-use version. These items are available in the restricted-use version.
description: The purpose of the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study (GCAFH) was to study post-Hurricane Katrina health and wellbeing in families in the Mississippi and Louisiana Gulf Coast who had been displaced or severely impacted by the disaster.
The purpose of the overall Katrina@10 project was to analyze three separate studies on sub-populations uniquely affected by Katrina under a single theoretical framework for disaster recovery.
description: The Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study (GCAFH) used a longitudinal cohort survey design, collecting data from participants at different timepoints following Hurricane Katrina.
At baseline, selected data were collected on all household members. A Kish sampling strategy was used to randomly select one child in the household for more detailed questions. Upon enrollment and completion of the baseline interview, respondents received small gifts for adults and children valued at about $15 per household.
The first follow-up survey (Wave 2) was conducted as a telephone interview between 20-23 months post-Katrina. Respondents received a $30 gift card for completing the Wave 2 survey.
The second follow-up survey (Wave 3) was conducted as an in-person survey between June-August 2008. Community-based interviewers in Louisiana and Mississippi were recruited and trained for fieldwork. The survey was suspended in the last week of August 2008 due to Hurricane Gustav, then reopened 6 weeks after the hurricane had passed for an additional 3-week period. Respondents received a $35 gift card for completing the second follow-up.
A supplemental survey (Gustav Supplement) was conducted as a telephone interview between September 25 and October 13, 2009. Participants who had completed the Wave 3 survey prior to Hurricane Gustav were eligible for this supplement. Respondents received a $20 gift card for completing the survey.
A third follow-up survey (Wave 4) began November 2009 and ended April 2010. Surveys were conducted in-person by local field staff.
The current study followed up with participants at least 10 years post-Katrina (2016-2018). Surveys were conducted by phone, in-person, or online via Qualtrics.
description: Housing and residential mobility post-Katrina
Physical and mental health, including chronic health conditions, health insurance coverage, mobility limitations
Social capital and resources, including organizational memberships, racial/ethnic community ties, relationships with friends, family members, and mentors
Risk behaviors (smoking, consuming sugary drinks), other traumatic experiences over the lifetime (including sexual assault/rape, arrest, being charged with a crime, serious injuries or life-threatening illnesses)
Family dynamics
Financial constraints
Neighborhood conditions, specifically perceptions of safety, disorder, and cohesion
Child-specific items reported by the respondent (mental and physical health, chronic conditions, insurance coverage, risky behaviors, temperament)
Recovery and outlook, including sense of purpose, role of religion/spirituality, change of priorities, and other changes in behavior/beliefs as a result of Hurricane Katrina
Recent experiences (circa 2016) with natural disasters, such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma
Demographics, including household income, marital status, employment status, education level, social benefits receipt, race, and sex
description: Response Rates: For baseline, a total of 4,284 households were sampled. Of those, 985 households were deemed ineligible because they were destroyed, vacant, abandoned, or under construction. Among the 3,299 eligible households, 1,587 had an eligible adult present (no contact was made at 1,712 remaining households despite repeated attempts), and 1,082 individuals consented to enrollment, resulting in a 32.8 percent response rate and a 68.1 percent cooperation rate.
For Wave 2, of the 1,082 original cohort, 803 were found and interviewed (75.1 percent response rate).
For Wave 3, 718 respondents of the 1,055 eligible cohort had completed the survey prior to the study's suspension due to Hurricane Gustav. An additional 59 respondents completed the survey post-Gustav for a total of 777 (74.5 percent response rate).
For the Gustav supplement, 528 completed the interview out of 718 eligible (73.5 percent retention rate).
A total of 647 participants completed the 10-year follow-up.
description: Presence of Common Scales: 
General Self Efficacy Scale (GSE)
Flourishing Scale
Impact of Events Scale - Revised (IES-R)
Kessler-6 (K6)
Life Events Checklist
Perceived Social Support
Physical Neighborhood Disorder
Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI)
Sense of Community Index
Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
Short Form Health Survey (SF-12v2)
Social Neighborhood Disorder
description: The Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study (GCAFH) used a stratified cluster sampling method to enroll participants over two phases. Participants were enrolled from Louisiana in February 2006 and from Mississippi in August 2006.
The sampling frame consisted of lists of congregate housing sites obtained from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Lists were stratified by type of site (FEMA group site, commercial trailer site, and hotel) and by size (1-25, 26-50, 51-100, 101+ residential units). Primary sampling units were 12 FEMA group sites, 10 commercial trailer sites, and 4 hotel sites. The Mississippi sampling frame was supplemented with an areal sample, using FEMA damage assessment maps and databases of the state's three coastal counties hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina. The research team randomly selected 150 of 650 census blocks from these counties. These strategies yielded a cohort representative of individuals who had been displaced to congregate settings in Louisiana and Mississippi, and people who were living in the most extensively-damaged areas of the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
The baseline sample included 1,079 randomly selected households along Louisiana (n=555 households) and Mississippi's (n=524 households) Gulf Coast. For each sampled household, the study participant was an eligible adult respondent who lived at that site and could knowledgeably report upon the health issues of all individuals in the household.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Public-Use Data
DS2: Restricted-Use Data
description: Residents along the Louisiana and Mississippi Gulf Coast who had been displaced or sustained moderate, extensive, or catastrophic damage due to Hurricane Katrina. Smallest Geographic Unit: Parish
description: face-to-face interview; telephone interview; web-based surveyFor more information on the Katrina@10 Project, please visit the project website.
Additional information on the Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study (GCAFH) is available through the GCAFH website.