Research Proposal
Uncertainty and Risk in The Anthropocene: Lived Experiences of Repeated Disasters in Southeast Texas
Research Proposal
Christina Segura
McNair Scholars Program, Lamar University
2020 McNair Cohort
Professor Andre Favors, Faculty Mentor
April 11, 2020
Abstract
Southeast Texas experienced a refinery explosion and two of the five wettest tropical cyclones in the contiguous United States in the span between 2017 and 2019. Research addressing populations that are victims of repeated disasters in a short time is limited. Despite the multiple hurricanes the region has experienced over the years, the experience of Southeast Texans has not been studied and is nearly absent in the existing literature. This proposal aims to use semi-structured interviews with interpretative phenomenological analysis to qualitatively examine the lived experiences of this population in the context of climate change and environmental uncertainty. The goal is to understand the experience of the repeated disasters, how the experience influences the present-day life of participants and how they processed the uncertainty of the aftermath. The insight revealed by this study can provide a meaningful contribution to disaster response teams and to researchers living in areas with similar risks.
Uncertainty and Risk in The Anthropocene: Lived Experiences of Repeated Disasters in Southeast Texas
Research Proposal
Tropical Storm Harvey made landfall in Southeast Texas in August of 2017 as the wettest and second-costliest cyclone in U.S. history, dumping 60.58 inches of rain and causing about $125 billion in damages (Amadeo, 2019; Mathews, 2019). Two years later in September of 2019, tropical storm Imelda, the fifth wettest cyclone in the contiguous U.S., dropped 43.15 inches of rain on the same area of Southeast Texas, costing approximately $5 billion in damages (Mathews, 2019; NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, 2019). Shortly after Imelda, in November 2019 on the eve of Thanksgiving, the TPC refinery in Port Neches exploded twice, damaging properties (some still in the midst of post-Imelda repairs) and prompting a mandatory evacuation covering a 4-mile radius around the plant (Dick & Scherer 2019).
The community of Southeast Texas, a three-county Gulf Coast area near the Texas/Louisiana border, is familiar with the threat of seasonal hurricanes. Since 2017, the disasters dealt to the same area have been as varied as they have been unprecedented. This population has endured multiple extreme stressors in a short amount of time and analysis of their experiences can provide a unique view of how this kind of environmental risk and trauma affects a population.
The goal of this project is to gain insight on the experiences of Southeast Texans who have been affected by two or more of the aforementioned disasters through direct semi-structured interviews. The data will be analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a qualitative methodology with theoretical roots in phenomenology (the study of the lived experience in search of the “essence of the phenomenon”); hermeneutics ( derived from the Greek verb meaning to interpret; the pursuit of understanding); and idiography (an approach to knowledge that focuses on the experience and analysis of the individual’s subjective experience), originally used in the context of health psychology (Willig & Rogers, 2017; Noon, 2018).
Research into the first-hand perspective of what it was like to live through those repeated disasters and the impact of the stress they caused will provide a deeper understanding of the strengths and challenges the community is living with. The insight gleaned from the study will provide a meaningful contribution to the existing body of work and to coastal or industry-dependent populations with analogous threats.
Statement of the Problem
Abundant research exists regarding the effects of natural disasters, flooding and other traumatic environmental stressors on the mental health of the affected population. However, as it is uncommon for a population to experience multiple disasters in a short period of time, an opportunity exists to address to contribute meaningfully to the existing body of work (Stough & North, 2018).
Although Southeast Texas is often the scene of major weather events, a review of the literature revealed little has been done to examine the recovery process of its community. The citizens of Southeast Texas are unique in that many have experienced repeated upheaval in their lives from two ‘1-in-500-year storms’ and a major environmental incident in the span of two years (Willingham, 2019).
This research study will address the gap in both areas by investigating the confluence of successive record-breaking disaster experiences of a population that is wholly undocumented in the literature.
Purpose of the Study
The time and effort invested in analyzing and interpreting the lived experiences of victims of at least two of the three major disasters occurring in Southeast Texas in the last two years will pay off by providing researchers a deeper understanding of the effects these events have on the population. In the context of climate change, the risks of natural disasters re-occurring will increase as time goes on. The risks associated with sharing a community with the refining industry are somewhat static and consistent but are also vulnerable to weather threats.
The purpose of the study is to understand how victims of these disasters respond to and create meaning out of their experience so that moving forward, disaster preparation can include proactive measures that will address potential mental health, financial, emotional, and social consequences. By using semi-structured interviews as a means for data collection and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis as the methodology, I (the researcher) can ask the sample group homogenous open-ended questions while allowing for elaboration and personal variation. The data produced is rich and deeply subjective to the interviewee; I will begin the analysis process by reading (and listening to) the transcript of the interview repeatedly while making introductory, exploratory notations that will generally be descriptive, linguistic, and conceptual (Smith et al., 2009).
From there, I will begin to identify emerging themes from the observations made while maintaining the connections stay grounded in the respondent’s words (Noon, 2018). Smith (2009) writes, “themes reflect not only the participant’s original words and thoughts but also the analyst’s interpretation”. Compiled chronologically, the themes are then charted or mapped according to how the researcher considers them best organized. Abstraction is used to identify patterns across themes and helps the researcher to begin assigning clusters of similar themes into ‘super-ordinate themes’ (Smith et al., 2009). The themes are paired with verbatim extracts of the data.
This process is repeated for each case, with the ultimate goal of being able to identify emerging themes across the sample. When analysis is completed, the findings will be written up in an analysis or results section of the paper, followed by recommendations for further study and a conclusion.
This particular type of qualitative research is ideal for the research questions proposed because it gives careful, methodical consideration to the lived experiences of a population at risk of future disasters who thus far, have little representation in the existing literature. The insight provided from this level of investigation goes beyond the level of a quantitative, closed-question survey. The proposed research will allow the population to represent itself in its own words and through the lens of academic interpretation.
Research Questions
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is not a prescriptive methodology – rather, the emphasis is placed on a subjective, constitutive understanding of the subjects’ experiences. My own experiences and biases will inevitably influence the interpretation of the data, but great effort will go into maintaining a respectful and empathic approach to understanding the perspectives of the participants. A deeper understanding of the depth of experience Southeast Texans have lived through in the past few years could potentially assist local mental health resources, disaster preparedness and response entities in anticipating recovery to future crises. Additionally, other communities around the country and world currently living in high-risk, disaster-prone areas could benefit from the information revealed through the study.
The proposed research will pose and attempt to answer the following research questions:
1. What does the experience of a Southeast Texas citizen whose life has been profoundly disrupted by 2 or more of the disasters (Harvey, Imelda, TPC explosion) in the past two years look like?
2. How has the past experience of repeated disasters influenced present-day life within a changing climate, surrounded by the environmental influence of the petrochemical industry?
3. How did participants process the uncertainty of the aftermath?
a. Did risk negotiation change as a result of the lived experiences?
b. To what extent, if any, did denial of risk play in negotiation of risk?
Definition of Terms
The following terms are used frequently and are critical to the framework that supports this study:
1. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis- A qualitative research methodology in which “participants are the experts on their own experiences” (Reid et al., 2005). Hypothesis are suspended in favor of a “bottom up” approach in which the researcher aims to “capture and explore the meanings that participants assign to their experiences”. The results are interpreted by the researcher but supported by the data provided by the respondents.
2. Phenomenology – the study of experience. Attributed to Edmund Husserl, the philosopher was interested in bringing people to know their own experiences and identify the “essential” qualities of those experiences. Smith et al. (2009) writes, “If this could be done, then Husserl reasoned that these essential features of the experience would transcend the particular circumstances of their appearance, and might then illuminate a given experience for others too.”
3. Hermeneutics – Originally applied to biblical texts, this philosophy of interpretation has since expanded to a wide variety of texts. The theory is the foundation of the hermeneutic circle; the idea that the part and the whole are dynamically interlinked – to understand the part, you must see the whole and to understand the whole, you must look towards the parts (Smith et al., 2009).
4. Idiography – An approach that emphasizes concern for the particular; the individual – and a dedication to the analysis of phenomena as subjective and influenced by specific thoughts, feelings and behaviors (Noon, 2018).
5. Super-Ordinate Theme – in IPA, a cluster of themes that have emerged from the text of the data produced by in-depth interviews (Smith, 2009).
6. Lived Experience – An understanding of an experience that is obtained by living through it. In health psychology, IPA is useful in providing insight to healthcare providers about the lived experiences of patients with illnesses and chronic pain (Reid et al., 2005).
7. Anthropocene – The proposed name for the current geological epoch in Earth’s life span. Meaning “The age of man”, the moniker aims to highlight the impact humans have had on the functioning of the planet from climate change to deforestation (Butler, 2016).
8. Uncertainty – a state of being in which the future situation is unclear. In this study the context of uncertainty pertains to the anxiety caused by disruptions of housing and security in the aftermath of a disaster.
9. Risk Negotiation – In the context of this research, risk negotiation refers to the way the population in Southeast Texas addresses living in a high-risk environment: mitigation, preparation, inaction, etc.
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical underpinnings of this study are based in trauma processing and environmental hazards. The investigation of how the trauma of the repeated disasters experienced by the research subjects affects their perception of future risk and uncertainty is a driving force in this project. As described in the “definitions” section above, risk negotiation in this proposal refers to the way Southeast Texans deal with environmental threats by preparing for, mitigating or doing nothing. This will be a key point of interest in the schedule of the semi-structured interview.
The concept of the Anthropocene, the name for the current geological epoch we are living in, is another cornerstone of the proposed work (Butler, 2016). The term was proposed by Stoermer in the 1980’s to describe the period on Earth that has been definitively altered and influenced by civilization. Climate change is perhaps the most powerful indication of man’s influence on the planet in the Anthropocene and is one of the aspects of the concept that this study will focus on. The second aspect of the Anthropocene that affects Southeast Texas is the influence of the petrochemical industry on the region.
The environmental variables caused by the location of Southeast Texas in regard to climate change and the petrochemical industry are permanent challenges to the residents. Work to uncover the meaning of experience that results from those variables will assist in preparing for future events that will likely reoccur.
The utilization of IPA as the methodology is a source of theoretical framework in and of itself. The cyclical nature of the hermeneutic circle will guide the analysis such that the individual experience will be honored and carefully documented while the researcher has the creative freedom to explore how the relationship to the greater experience of the community of Southeast Texas living with the risks in the Anthropocene translates to vulnerable communities around the world. IPA will assist in understanding the role of uncertainty management and negotiation by being able to ask respondents directly about their perception of it during the course of their experiences. Through careful analyzation and interpretation from multiple samples, the opportunity exists to emerge with illuminating findings.
Literature Review
This literature review will discuss the sociocultural structure of life in Southeast Texas; demographics, education, race relations and risk negotiation. The review will then consider the role the geological epoch known as the Anthropocene has on life for Southeast Texans in the context of climate change and the petrochemical industry. Next, literature on trauma, uncertainty and uncertainty mitigation through denial will be cogitated. The social and psychological impact of trauma-specific to flooding and repeated disasters will be examined with a concentration on hurricane experiences on the Gulf Coast. Interpretative phenomenological analysis will be discussed as the most epistemologically appropriate methodology for the proposed research. The review of literature will conclude with a clear need for further study established.
Demographics and Sociocultural Context of Southeast Texas
Southeast Texas is a geographical area that is bordered by the Sabine River (and Louisiana) to the east, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. It is comprised of 21 towns grouped into three counties: Jefferson County, Hardin County and Orange County (Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission, n.d.).
According to the data from the U.S. Census Bureau posted by the South East Texas Planning Commission, in 2010, Southeast Texas had a total population of 388, 745, with 12.97% identifying as Hispanic or Latino, 58.78% identifying as White, 24.34 percent as Black or African American, 0.33 percent as American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.4 percent as Asian, .03 percent as Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander and 1.19 percent as Some Other Race or Mixed Races. The most common age range of the population is the 35-54 group with 27.49 percent of the population, followed closely by the 19 and under group composing 27.36 percent (SETRPC, 2010). The smallest representation of age ranges was the 55-64 group with 11.67 percent. The Census Bureau’s income and poverty status estimation for Southeast Texas based on the 2006-2010 surveys show a per capita income of $22,580 and a median household income of $45,029. 13.5 percent of families and 16.7 percent of individuals in Southeast Texas are living in poverty.
Southeast Texans reflect a population that on average (35.83 percent) has a high school diploma or equivalent level of education (SETRPC, 2010). 23.8 percent of the population have attended some college but have not graduated, 23.2 percent have an associate degree or higher, and 16 percent have not received a high school diploma or equivalency.
In 1964, Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law, assuming enforcement of the law would not be necessary because the American people would be naturally inclined to “do what is right” (Moore 2015; Crum 2014). A 2014 Beaumont Enterprise article reflecting on the race relations in Southeast Texas then and now reports that a lack of enforcement of the Civil Rights Act in the area translated to a sluggish response, in part due to community reticence. The article included an interview with Beaumont (Jefferson County) resident and treasurer of 100 Black Men of Greater Beaumont, Vernon Durden. Durden was a teenager when the act was passed and remembers finding tacks on his seat every day at newly integrated South Park High School. Another Beaumont resident who lived through the integration of his high school recalled in the article wanting to bring his college roommate (who happened to be African-American) to visit in 1969 during the Christmas break and his mother refusing, asking “But where would we take him?”.
Vidor, an Orange county suburb of Beaumont, is still shrouded in its past reputation for being a “sundown town”, a concept born between 1890 and 1960 that was designed to drive African American populations out of communities by posting signs warning African American citizens to be out of the town by sunset (Loewen, J., 2009). According to Loewen (2009), in 1993, HUD relocated four African American households into public housing in Vidor, but the families were driven out within months by members of the community who refused to serve them, yelled racial slurs at them, and overlooked visits from Ku Klux Klan “security patrols”. The most recent census shows 13 African American citizens live in the town with a total population of 10, 579 (SETRPC, 2020).
Southeast Texas is geographically broad but culturally small, a series of interconnected towns with a deep sense of community and resilience, but a limited tolerance for change.
Living on the Gulf Coast comes with an innate awareness of hurricane season. In 2008, Hurricane Ike devastated Galveston Island, Bolivar Peninsula, and inundated Orange and Bridge City with floodwaters from its 22-foot-storm surge. It was the most devastating storm in recent memory. The town of Bridge City was left with only 24 of its 3400 homes habitable (The Storm Resource, 2020).
While some residents sold their flooded, gutted homes “as-is” (I purchased my home after Ike as-is) and moved inland, the majority of the community rallied together, rebuilt schools, businesses and homes while living in temporary housing – often in the form of FEMA trailers parked in the of driveways of homes in various stages of repair (The Storm Resource, 2020).
In Orange and Bridge City in particular, the community benefitted from communal coping, a phenomenon in which groups of people confronting a shared stressor tend to feel like “we are in this together”, offsetting the emotional toll of the trauma (Afifi, W., Felix, Afifi, T., 2012). The community recovered, but the trauma of the rebuilding process lingered in the collective memory of the community. By 2017, the uncertainty that each hurricane season brings was blunted by a sense that Ike was the 500-year-storm that would buy future seasons of peace.
The Anthropocene in Southeast Texas: Climate Change and Industry
The term “Anthropocene” was created by biologist Eugene Stoermer in the 1980’s (Butler, 2016). According to Butler (2016), in 2011, the Geological Society of London met to consider the validity and meaning of the term, but it is still not widely used or accepted.
The Anthropocene describes the geological epoch that succeeds the Holocene (10-12,000 years after the last ice age) epoch (Butler, 2016). The term, which means “Age of Men”, is controversial and not widely accepted for several reasons. One, there is debate surrounding the date this age is said to have begun, and over the necessity for a separate designation to even exist (Holocene can still cover this age). It is also argued that the term places blame on humanity for the rapid changes in the environment that are really the fault of a privileged minority (corporations dependent of fossil fuel combustions, land developers). On the other side of the debate is the possibility that the term could serve to unite, using the power of the name to emphasize humanity’s responsibility to the earth.
The “Anthro” aspect of the word is meant to highlight the amount of influence human existence has had on the Earth, from a geological, ecological and epidemiological perspective (Butler, 2016). The Anthropocene is describing the influence human actions have had on the natural balance of life on Earth.
Climate change, deforestation, and reductions in biodiversity are changes in the Earth system that will result in changes in human life and health. In The Anthropocene – The biggest threat to health on the African continent, Robert Mash writes of climate change related traumas that echo those of Southeast Texas: Mozambique on Africa’s east coast suffered a blow from cyclone Idai, followed by cyclone Kenneth in Tanzania and Mozambique (flooding Durbon) while the Namibia on the west coast declared a national emergency due to drought. In the Journal of Primary Health Care and Family medicine, Mash appeals to his audience,
The environmental crisis facing communities across the planet is, in fact, a series of crises that are coming together in a perfect storm. The consequences for people’s health and health systems are enormous. We can expect an escalation in environmental disasters such as floods, droughts and fires that will stretch our emergency medical services and disaster relief agencies. Such disasters are accompanied by injuries, psychological trauma, outbreaks of infectious diseases such as cholera, disruption of health services (such as for HIV and obstetrics) and displacement of people (Mash, 2019).
It is worth noting that as this review is being written, the planet is collectively suffering a pandemic of the novel coronavirus, Sars-Cov-2, a zoonotic (affects both animals and humans) pathogen thought to originate in a bat and whose earliest cases were lined to a market in Wuhan, China that sold live animals (Sheposh, 2020).
Recognizing and understanding the role of human influence in the changing patterns emerging on the Earth will empower populations to proactively mitigate the negative public health consequences. Dr. Compton Tucker, Senior Biospheric Scientist for NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, in a February 18, 2020 talk at Lamar University, presented scientific data that showed an increase in sea levels, ocean temperatures, surface temperature and atmospheric temperatures on Earth (Tucker, 2020). The findings also revealed loss of mass in Glacier ice and sea ice. While these changes have been occurring, data analyzing the sun’s energy output since 1978 has been remarkably consistent over the years, deviating only for the 11-year sun-spot cycles.
Dr. Tucker uses records of radar measurements from satellites that have been monitoring the ocean’s levels since 1992. The oceans have risen at a rate of 3-4 centimeters per decade. Ocean temperatures, monitored by (currently) 4,000 autonomous buoys that track temperature and salinity through a 10-day cycle, also reveal a consistent pattern of thermal expansion and increased ocean temperatures while NASA satellite data reveals surface temperatures are increasing (Tucker, 2020). Tucker recounted in his talk how Dave Keeling documented and observed a change of atmospheric C02 from less than 320 parts per million in the 1950’s to over 400 parts per million in 2018 (the Keeling Curve). He demonstrated how satellite detection of sea ice has shown a steady decline since the 1980’s; sea ice has a higher rate of microwave emission than open water. Tuckers talk concluded with the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment; he explained how the satellites that measure the gravity field and determine how mass on the surface of the earth changes with extremely fine accuracy, showed definitive loss in mass of ice sheets.
Professor Emeritus Dr. Jim Westgate, former instructor of paleontology, meteorology, oceanography and environmental geology, explains in an article for Lamar’s newspaper the University Press, that for Southeast Texans, rising temperatures could mean busier hurricane seasons and a gradually encroaching ocean as sea levels rise (Segura, 2020). Dr. Westgate explained that as climate change has progressed, we have seen five of the busiest hurricane seasons just since 2010 out of the top 20 recorded since 1851. Currently, water temperatures off the coast of Texas in Sabine Pass are 10 degrees warmer than they should be, indicating an early and busy 2020 hurricane season. Westgate stressed the need for local governments to adapt to the changed weather patterns by adding infrastructure to promote adequate drainage.
According to Westgate, by the year 2100, if we continue at the same rate of C02 production, we will be facing a six-foot rise in sea level. Hard-hit, flood-weary communities like Orange and Bridge City (which sits about 5 feet above sea level) will be under a foot of water.
The risks that are associated with living in the shadow of the petrochemical industry have been accepted since Spindletop struck oil in 1901 by the community that largely lives off of the jobs it provides (Motavalli, 2006; Texas Economic Development Corporation, 2019). In a 2007 article from the Associated Press, NBC news reports on the dichotomy of financial support from area refineries and the physical health risk their presence incurs in Port Arthur, Texas (Rohr, 2007). In the article, Port Arthur resident La Shauna Green, who lived in a housing complex next door to Motiva and Valero, describes how her 5-year-old son has asthma and bronchitis, requiring an inhaler every 4 hours and seven prescription drugs. During a year-long evacuation for 2005’s Hurricane Rita, the child’s symptoms nearly disappeared, only to return two days after they returned to live at the complex. Former EPA official Eric Shaeffer wrote two studies on pollution in Port Arthur and said, “It’s one of the worst I’ve seen.”
Meanwhile, ex-mayor Oscar Ortiz worries the petrochemical plants and their financial resources might leave Port Arthur (Rohr, 2007). When questioned about the health risks these refineries might pose to members of the community, his response was, “We’ve all got to die of something.”
Hilton Kelley, born and raised in Port Arthur and a vocal environmental activist for the community, argues that the foul-smelling air and high rates of respiratory ailments and cancer of west-side residents necessitate an increase in restrictions on industrial construction, regulations and higher rates of enforcement on emissions (Rohr, 2007). She laments, “When you appeal to the conscience of man, how these things are impacting our children, you can get them to see our point. But a lot of the times, the bottom line still wins.”
Trauma, Uncertainty, Uncertainty Negotiation, and the use of Denial as Risk Mitigation
Uncertainty is an inherent aspect of life – evaluating the unique range and amount of risk Southeast Texans must negotiate to make a life in the area provides crucial context to the proposed research. Authors of a previous study quantitatively analyzed the influence of uncertainty on mental health and found that uncertainty about the safety of the home, personal safety, and safety of friends and/or family were associated with a negative impact on mental health (Afifi, W., Felix, Afifi, T., 2012). Further, the study showed that the duration of participants’ uncertainty about the safety of the home correlated with negatively impacted mental health (Afifi, W., Felix, Afifi, T., 2012). Considering the two year stretch of repeated disasters the community of Southeast Texas has just experienced, this information provides valuable framework to the proposed research.
In the field of communication studies, researches Charles Berger and Richard Calebrese developed a theory that identifies and explains how individuals negotiate through new interpersonal interactions to reduce uncertainty and discomfort or stress (Punyanunt-Carter, 2019). They propose the idea that the lack of familiarity or predictability with a person (or, for the purposes of this research, situations) is what causes stress and anxiety. The researchers identify ways people seek to reduce the uncertainty and identify the types of uncertainty individuals experience as cognitive and behavioral. Uncertainty Reduction Theory assumes that interpersonal settings produce uncertainty, uncertainty is uncomfortable and creates anxiety and individuals will immediately try to reduce uncertainty and increase predictability when faced with new interpersonal situations.
If uncertainty reduction theory is correct and people deal with unknown variables by attempting to reduce them, what are the implications for populations like those in Southeast Texas living under the constant pressure of many threatening unknowns? An article from the Journal of Risk Research describes embodied uncertainty: an approach that considers the subjective experience of how an individual evaluates risk, taking into consideration social identities, past experiences, social norms, beliefs and values (Sword-Daniels et. al., 2015). Embodied uncertainty explains how individuals internalize risk and highlight how our social identity – how we see ourselves in our community – influences how we interpret risk and uncertainty in the world. Two conceptual examples given in the article were of particular interest:
1.) The role trauma plays in how individuals embody and process uncertainty. In 2009, Tropical Storm Ida devastated an area of San Salvador. As the community recovered from the trauma, fear of a future landslide rippled through them each time even a small rainfall event occurred. This phenomenon also occurred in communities in the days and months immediately post-Harvey.
2.) The role social and institutional structures and policies play in an individual’s interpretation of uncertainty. Communities are influenced by the response of their governing forces to risk (Sword-Daniels et. al., 2015). The journal article describes how barrier islands along the U.S. east coast who face serious threat from climate change use uncertainty as an advantage, portraying reactive measures such as evacuations, rebuilds and federal aid as methods of control. Deep-rooted interests such as history, culture and financial investment motivate a manifestation of embodied uncertainty that can looks more like willful denial.
Sword-Daniels et. al propose in the article that by accepting uncertainty and the complex means by which we interpret it, we are able to navigate risk from a position of empowerment.
An article in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Sea Level Rise, Storm Risk, Denial and the Future of Coastal Cities, uses New York City as an example of the desperately needed measures that need to be taken to mitigate the risks of climate change and storms like Hurricane Sandy, which will see the likelihood of recurrence “increase at least tenfold before the end of the 21st century” (Jacob, 2015). The article describes how populations are aware of the increasing risk of living in a coastal area, but has done little to prepare for potentialities (p. 42):
In the climate-science and risk-assessment professions, Hurricane Sandy and its impacts were long expected. But the public ignored these assessments, as did most policy-making institutions. Sandy provided an opportunity to change this, but while some incremental changes to reduce risk are under way, we are still in denial of the long-term consequences of sea level rise.
It is tempting to let time smooth the memory of devastating traumatic events. In Southeast Texas, every summer that doesn’t bring a major hurricane or rainfall event lulls the population – even those sworn to vigilance after experiencing multiple disasters – to lower their guard, and maybe even consider skipping that year’s flood insurance premium. However, the urgency increases with time to take substantive risk mitigating steps. Jacob (2015) writes (p. 42),
The sooner we awake from our risk denial, both on climate mitigation and adaptation, the better off we are. From some careful study (National Institute of Building Sciences (NIBS)) mandated by Congress a decade ago, it emerged that for every dollar spent on disaster risk mitigation and resiliency, we earn an average of four dollars by avoiding losses.
Ulrich Beck’s Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity raises the idea of a society that is living in a world of self-produced risk (and is collectively aware of and choosing to look past it), under a governing authority whose ability to manage those risks is in doubt (Burgess et al., 2017). From climate change and refinery explosions to covid-19, this idea rings true.
The Social and Psychological Impact of Trauma Associated with Flooding, Repeated Disasters
Repeated disaster events have been shown to correlate positively with mental health disorders, yet few studies have focused on the adverse effects of repeated disasters on the mental health of a population as it is uncommon for a variety of risk factors to affect one area (Heo et al., 2008; Stough & North, 2018). Southeast Texas is one of those unique areas that faces unpredictable environmental variables from multiple sources: hurricanes, rainfall/flooding events and disturbances from area refineries.
The Stough study (2018) investigated psychiatric disorders following differential exposures to repeated disasters such as flooding, tornadoes, dioxin contaminants, and/or radioactive well water. Results showed that 1/5 to 1/3 of the disaster exposed respondents had a psychiatric disorder following exposure to a disaster. Most of the psychiatric disorders were related to alcoholism and not PTSD or disaster related psychopathology. Alcohol use was identified as a pre-existing issue and is indicated as a possible risk factor for disaster related psychopathology.
In a study to gauge health-related quality of life, 83 residents of the Garisan-ni, Inje-gun, and Gangwon-do, a predominantly agricultural farming community, were assessed with the Korean version of the 36 Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36-K) between April and June 2006 (Heo et al., 2008). On July 15, 2006, a massive flood struck the area; 58 of the original 83 respondents were available for re-assessment 18 months later.
The results of the SF-36-K reassessment showed a significant decrease in health-related quality of life (Heo et al., 2008). The psychological impact of the flood was measured with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the PTSD domain of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPIPTSD) and the Korean version of the Revised Impact of Event Scale (EIS-R). The results showed that 53.45% had mild depression, 18.97% had moderate depression, and 17.24% of respondents to the BDI had severe depression. 22.4% of respondents qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD based on results from both the IES-R and the MMPI-PTSD.
This unique analysis of the difference in health and mental health status both pre and post disaster provide useful insight into the potential risks and negative impact on the physical and mental health of victims of flooding events.
Dr. Besser Van Der Kolk explores in deep scientific and humanistic detail the relationship between the brain and the body in the context of trauma in his book The Body Keeps the Score. He explains how trauma can change the way our brains negotiate threats in our environments, creating new pathways in the brain that can lead to maladaptive responses and psychopathology/disorders (Van der Kolk, B. A., 2015). Neuroplasticity is a relatively new discovery in medicine, cleverly described as: “neurons that fire together, wire together (2015)”.
Van Der Kolk writes, if a person feels safe and supported, the brain becomes a specialist in exploration and cooperation; if a person feels frightened and unwanted, it specializes in managing feelings of abandonment and risk-negotiation. By understanding the functions of the brain that are associated with the types of symptoms one is experiencing as a result of their trauma, Dr. Van Der Kolk offers specialized re-training techniques that range from neurofeedback, breathing, yoga, and dance to activate the brains neuroplasticity and encourage a life lived fully in the present.
The book tells an interesting anecdote about a 5-year-old boy who witnessed the horrors of September 11 just feet away from his preschool. The children immediately ran away back to the safety of their parents who had just dropped them off. A day later, he drew the scene of people jumping to their deaths in order to escape the flames-but he added a trampoline so they could land safely. The well-loved, supported child was processing his trauma in a healthy way, using his imagination to make sense of the event and move on. The act of fleeing (active role) immediately contributed to his healthy reaction to the event. On the other side of that coin, people who experience trauma in situations where they are physically held down, stuck in battle, trapped and/or are not fully supported experience a constant flood of stress chemicals and the brain can get suspended in a state of fight or flight long after the event has passed.
This information provides an additional level of understanding that can be applied to the experiences encountered in research of Southeast Texans who have been victims of repeated flooding or disasters. In the context of Harvey and Imelda, victims are often trapped in an inactive role, helpless to the floodwaters that violate their homes, and they experience an overwhelming dose of stress chemicals as they wait for rescue or for waters to recede, potentially creating a risk factor for future psychopathologies such as PTSD.
Specific to Southeast Texas, a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation a year after hurricane Harvey found that fifteen percent of victims across Texas reported their homes were still unlivable after 10 months, a statistic that rose to 25 percent for residents of the Golden Triangle/ Southeast Texas (Hamel et al., 2018). Additionally, residents who were low income, African American, or residents of the Golden Triangle/Southeast Texas were more likely to report that they were not getting the help they needed for recovery and were still living a disrupted version of their pre-Harvey lives.
Methodology: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
As discussed in the “Purpose of the Study” section of this proposal, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is the methodology planned for the analysis of the data collected through semi-structured interviews. In chapter four of Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods, the authors provide an introductory overview of the qualitative methodology, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2007). Smith describes how the purpose of the IPA study is to provide an empathic, in-depth understanding of the participant’s experience. Emphasis is placed on mutual sense/meaning-making for the interviewer and the subject. The subject is regarded as a complex being and the researcher considers the mental and emotional state and its relationship to potential disconnects between thinking, feeling and communicating in the interpretation of the experience. Willig and Rogers (2017) articulate the value of this methodology, writing: “rather than transcend the particular, IPA aims to grasp the texture and qualities as it is lived by an experiencing subject.”
IPA research does not aim to test a hypothesis or obtain quantitative information limited to a Likert scale or a yes/no response. Rather, IPA is a “bottom up” approach in which the participants are the experts of their subjects, offering data that is rich, complex, broad and deep (Reid et al., 2005). The researcher’s job is to distill the information through diligent and systematic analysis, identify themes, organize them into super-ordinate themes and then repeat the process for each individual interview before beginning to apply the same process across the study.
IPA emerged in the mid 1990’s as a qualitative research vehicle for health psychology (Smith, 2009). The emphasis on seeking to understand experience stems from theoretical roots in phenomenology, hermeneutics and idiography. Phenomenology is the study of the lived experience; the search for the “essence of the phenomenon”. Edmund Husserl was so interested in people understanding the meaning of their own experience, his philosophy extended to understanding the “experiential content of consciousness”. In terms of phenomenology’s use to research, Smith (2009) writes of Husserl (p.12),
He was particularly interested in finding a means by which someone might come to accurately know their own experience of a given phenomenon, and would do so with a depth and rigour which might allow them to identify the essential qualities of that experience. If this could be done, then Husserl reasoned that these essential features of an experience would transcend the particular circumstances of their appearance, and might then illuminate a given experience for others too.
Hermeneutics, derived from the Greek verb meaning to interpret, is the pursuit of understanding (Willig & Rogers, 2017; Noon, 2018). Originally applied to biblical texts, hermeneutics have since expanded to the interpretation of a wide variety of texts (Smith et al., 2009). An important contribution is the foundation of the hermeneutic circle; the idea that the part and the whole are dynamically interlinked and knowledge of both are necessary for knowledge of either Finally, idiography, an approach to knowledge that focuses on the experience and analysis of the individual’s subjective experience, is an important theoretical cornerstone of IPA. Idiography focuses on the particular in two ways: particular meaning specificity; the depth of the study and particular in regard to the perception of the subject in the particular context, location, and/or situation.
The level of analyzation and consideration to the subject involved in this kind of research is well-suited for the research questions because it will give respondents who have endured multiple traumas and continue to live in an unstable environment room to freely communicate their interpretation of experience. One interpretative phenomenological study of children’s lived experiences of Hurricane Katrina ten years after the trauma, provides valuable insight into the way coping mechanisms shifted from adaptive coping strategies in childhood to active coping strategies in early adulthood (Mason, 2015). Themes emerged revealing the impact trauma, hurricane preparedness, emotional reactions, displacement and relocation and social support networks had on the survivors. Half of the in-person, structured interviews were facilitated by a community center/church and congregation leader, creating a sense of comfort between the researcher and the subjects. In order to produce authentic, comprehensive analysis of the subject’s experience, this method of data collection would be beneficial for interpreting the effects of repeated disasters on Southeast Texans while allowing the participants to control the narrative of their own experience.
Research Design
The study will utilize semi-structured interviews to be given in person (if possible) in a setting that is reasonably private, so the respondent feels comfortable and encouraged to respond to questions freely. Ideally, the interviews would be administered on campus, but in light of the ongoing pandemic, I am willing to accommodate participants and meet at a location convenient to the respondent.
Interviews will last approximately one hour and will be recorded using a recorder as well as an iPhone for back up. The interviews will then be transcribed and saved so that paper transcripts are available for analysis along with the audio recording. In alignment with the IPA methodology, the transcripts will then be processed individually through multiple readings, initial annotation of impressions, theme identification, super-ordinate theme identification, charting of the themes and super-ordinate themes, then processed collectively for shared themes across cases. If more than 50% of participants reveal the same theme, it will be regarded as shared.
Sampling
Due to the specific nature of the research, the population under consideration is purposive. The sample needs to be people who are residents of Southeast Texas who have been substantially affected by at least two of the following disasters: Tropical Storm Harvey, Tropical Storm Imelda or the TPC explosion in Port Neches. Substantially affected in this case means damage to the home, a disruption in living arrangements or displacement. Ideally, the sample would be homogenous in age range (within 20 years) and level of trauma experienced. Due to the immersive nature of the analysis in an IPA research study, Smith (2009) recommends that undergraduate to graduate students aim for a sample size of 3-6. Smith estimates that “the analysis stage for an IPA study of three cases may take at least two months of full-time work.”
With this in mind, the sample size this study is aiming for is 3-5. Potential participants will be directly solicited based on a residual knowledge I have of members in the community who have been heavily impacted by the recent disasters.
Instrumentation
This research project will utilize an in-depth semi-structured interview as the main source of collecting and analyzing data. This study is qualitative in nature and the results will emerge as the result of deep analysis into the responses and the descriptive, linguistic and conceptual notations made in the initial reviews (Smith, 200). Charting will be created to organize emergent themes from the data which will be supported by evidence in the form of excerpts of the interviews. Recording devices will be used to capture the interviews and a transcription service will be utilized to convert the audio to text.
1. Instrument One
The semi-structured interview. The same interview will be used for each
respondent, encouraging reliability. The questions will be open-ended and allow for freedom of the participant to articulate their experience as clearly as possible. The faculty mentor will assist the researcher in creating the schedule for the interview.
2. Instrument Two
A recording device and an iPhone will be used to record the audio of the interviews.
3. Instrument Three
A transcription service will be used to transcribe to audio to text for analysis and notation.
4. Instrument Four
Charting methods to visually and physically order emergent themes and super-ordinate themes from individual interviews and then across the sample.
Data Collection and Analysis Procedures
The data will be collected via an interview structured around open-ended questions with the goal of providing an empathic, safe environment for the respondent to share their lived experience of repeated disasters. The letter of consent will be delivered, signed and collected prior to the start of the interview.
After the interviews are completed and transcribed, annotations are made during the reading and re-reading process. Then, the work begins to identify emerging themes from the observations made while maintaining the connections stay grounded in the respondent’s words (Noon, 2018). The themes are then charted or mapped chronologically and according to how the researcher considers them best organized. Patterns across themes are identified with abstraction, helping the researcher to begin assigning clusters of similar themes into super-ordinate themes (Smith et al., 2009). The complex, phenomenological nature of the research will benefit from a research journal where continuous documentation of the process can take place to add direction in the analysis phase (Smith et al., 2009).
This process is repeated for each case, with the ultimate goal of being able to identify emerging themes across the sample. The findings will be written up when analysis is completed will be displayed in the analysis or results section of the paper. Discussions might include recommendations for further study, and the research will conclude with final thoughts.
Protection of Human Rights
Participants in the research study will be assured of confidentiality verbally and in a written consent form. The consent form will specify that while excerpts of their interviews will be published, identification of the subjects will be protected, and no personal information will be shared. Participant will be documented in the agreement as voluntary and participants will retain the right to withdraw up to the point of completion. Once the research begins the analytical/processing phase, the researcher reserves the right to continue with analysis.
Additionally, approval with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) through Lamar University to proceed with the project will be obtained before starting the data collection process. Training will be administered to the researcher prior to data collection to ensure the duties and responsibilities associated with working with a human subject are clearly defined and respected throughout the course of the research project.
Discussion
The goal of this proposed study is to enable the researcher to identify themes across the participants’ perspectives that lead to a deeper understanding of Southeast Texans’ experience of weather and environmental trauma in a meteorologically (and to some extent, environmentally) unstable location.
There is a need for further research on the effects of repeated disasters to the same population in a short period of time. In addition, Southeast Texas is lacking representation in any research topic; given the frequency of devastating events and the size of the population, a need exists to investigate and learn from the experiences of its citizens.
The findings will be used to develop insight that could potentially lead to recommendations for the community to better anticipate and treat social, emotional and psychological suffering in Southeast Texas.
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