Cohort Profile

Design and Respondent Characteristics for the Longitudinal Survey of Trauma, Resilience and Opportunity Among Neighbourhoods in the Gulf (STRONG) Cohort

Alyson B. Harding, Andrew M. Parker, Vanessa Parks, Rachana Seelam, Samer Atshan, Allison Dormanesh, Kirsten Becker, Bonnie Ghosh-Dastidar, Rajeev Ramchand, Melissa L. Finucane, et al.

ResearchPosted on rand.org Mar 11, 2026Published in: BMJ Open, Volume 16, Issue 2 (2026). DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2025-112552

Purpose

The Survey of Trauma, Resilience and Opportunity among Neighbourhoods in the Gulf (STRONG) is a longitudinal study assessing disaster exposures and outcomes of adults living along the US Gulf Coast. Initially conceived to examine effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, five follow-up surveys have explored impacts of hurricanes and COVID-19.

Participants

A total of 2520 adults completed the baseline survey in 2016. Compared with the region, survey respondents were older, more likely to be female and less likely to be Hispanic.

Findings to Date

As a longitudinal disaster cohort, STRONG provides a unique opportunity to examine disaster impacts. Research using STRONG data has explored how a wide range of disaster exposures are associated with behavioural health. Consistent with other disaster research, analyses with STRONG data suggest that resource loss is linked with worse behavioural health.

Read More

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: Alyson B. Harding, Andrew M. Parker, Vanessa Parks, Rachana Seelam, Samer Atshan, Allison Dormanesh, Kirsten Becker, Bonnie Ghosh Dastidar, Rajeev Ramchand, Melissa L. Finucane, Tim Slack, Pamela N. Waldron-Moore, Lynsay Ayer ; Open Access
  • Publisher: BMJ Journals
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 2026
  • Pages: 9
  • Document Number: EP-71238

Research conducted by

This publication is part of the RAND external publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.