Developing the Minimum Data Set for a Disaster Mental Health Registry System

There is a close relationship between mental health and psychosocial problems in disaster settings, as well as overlap in the support provided for these problems. Therefore, public health officials need to understand the burden of behavioral health conditions among survivors and the needs of the affected community. This study aimed to develop a mental health minimum data set for an electronic disaster registry system to provide timely, essential, and accurate information to personnel on the ground and policymakers to design a disaster response and develop an action plan rapidly.

The present study is a mixed‑method (sequential exploratory) study. In the qualitative phase, a literature review and semi‑structured interviews with experts were conducted to generate an item pool for the mental health response in disasters. In the quantitative phase the quantitative content validity, content validity ratio and content validity index were used.

proposed data elements, 85 data elements were confirmed according to the opinion of experts and categorized into two main parts, pre-disaster part with three sections; including region profile, mental health local background, regional mental health committee affairs, and post-disaster parts with five sections including disaster information, information of mental health teams, mental health status, mental health interventions, and mental health need assessment.

Collecting this minimum data set is critical for helping policymakers and healthcare providers prevent, control, and manage the mental health impacts of disasters during the response phase. Besides facilitating and promoting disaster prevention and response programs and measures.