One hundred thirteen adult victims of a major Latin American disaster
were screened for emotional distress 1 and 5 years after the catastrop
he, We used the Self-Reporting Questionnaire to identify emotionally d
istressed victims. Results indicate that the prevalence of emotional d
istress decreased from 65% in 1986 to 31% in 1990. However, a comparis
on of the symptomatology on these two assessments indicates a similari
ty in the frequency and profiles of symptoms among the distressed. Als
o, the most frequent symptoms and the strongest predictors of emotiona
l distress were essentially the same. These findings provide empirical
support to the clinically observed course of emotional symptomatology
of disaster victims and to the focused training of health workers on
selected emotional problems that are consistently present over time.