Supporting rural Australian communities after disaster: The warrumbungle bushfire support coordination service

Abstract

Aim: Natural disasters inflict significant trauma upon the individuals and communities in which they occur. In order to gain an understanding of the role of community-based disaster recovery support services in the post-disaster environment, we assessed the acceptability and perceived effectiveness of the Warrumbungle Bushfire Support Coordination Service (BSCS) implemented in response to the January 2013 bushfires in the Warrumbungle Shire, New South Wales, Australia. Method: A mixed-methods approach was taken to explore the perspectives of former BSCS users and key stakeholders involved with the service. A survey was distributed to former services users (in both paper and online modalities..