Predictors of physical, emotional and social needs among young children living in camps for internally displaced people, nine months after the 2010 Chilean earthquake

Purpose. To assess physical, emotional and social needs among children under 5 living in camps for internally displaced people (IDP) 9 months after the 2010 Chilean earthquake. To test the hypothesis that pre-earthquake child characteristics, proximity to epicenter, exposure to post-disaster stressful events and ongoing exposures predict child needs.

Methods. This cross-sectional study of 140 0-5 year-old children living in IDP camps 9 months after 2010 Chilean earthquake uses administrative data from a locally-adapted version of the Child Status Index. We describe frequency of stressful events children experienced, prevalence and urgency of needs in 6 domains: nutrition, health, stimulation, psychosocial, caregiver, housing. We used hierarchical multivariate regression analyses with physical health, emotional health and social conduct as dependent variables. Independent variables were baseline characteristics (sex, age, pre-earthquake trauma), distance from epicenter, exposure to stressful events, and ongoing exposures.

Results. In all domains, >20% of children scored at risk or worse. A subset had high risk across multiple domains. Baseline child characteristics and epicenter proximity did not predict child needs. Social-conduct needs were predicted by number of stressful events, witnessing delinquency, nutritional needs (all p<.05) and caregiver instability (p<.001). Emotional-health needs were predicted by caregiver instability and stimulation needs (p<.05). Physical-health needs were predicted by nutrition and protection needs (p<.05).

Implications. Physical, emotional and social needs among children in IDP camps were predicted by ongoing exposures amenable to intervention, not by baseline characteristics. Post-disaster child assessments and interventions should target multiple interrelated domains of child well-being.