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The program ideology and purpose is based off preparing students for career paths in "(a) communities that are affected by and vulnerable to disaster destruction and disruption; (b) organizations that focus on all phases of disaster management (preparedness, response, recovery, and risk reduction); and, (c) leadership in organizations and communities that require leadership that promotes resilience."

Students can earn a DRLS Master of Science in 2 years (or a 1 year accelerated) and is made up of 36 credits . Courses required to be taken are centered around leaderhsip analytics and environmental hazards. Students are trained and educated under the 5 core competencies or pillars- Human and social factors, Economics of disaster, Environmental and Infrastructure, disaster operations, measurement and evaluation. The goal is to produce competent practitioners in disaster relief, create partnerships within the academic community and provide leadership, research and evaluation abilities in their students. 

This policy was an expansion of the Social Security Act and other federal social welfare programs that date back to 1950. This policy was created to clear up confusions and set down parameters for how mental health should be addressed under this Act and to define what constitutes an IMD under this policy.

The argument of this paper is supported through the field research of the author and the findings based off that, as well as testimony and interviews from those effected by the disaster. The author also discusses Chernobyl in depth in terms of pre and post disaster, as well as its history and how there was a change in the area after the disaster. There are also statistical analyses and data provided and a detailed assessment of the internal mechanisms of the government and social aspects of the topic. 

The author is Sonja D. Schmid, who is a professor in STS at Virginia Tech. Her main topic of study and research focus is the Soviet Union and nuclear emergency response. She analyzes nuclear industry risks and policies in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union. She researches the organizational history of nuclear industries including their policies and advances in technology. She's also a well published author on the topic.

The purpose of this program is to help instill into nurses, doctors, social workers and more with the ability to mix their clinical practice with the ability to interpret, recognize and be moved by stories of illness according to their mission statement. This program is for those that want to improve the effectiveness of their care by increasing their familiarity with the skill of narrative medicine. 

The authors include Paul E Farmer, Bruce Nizeye, Sara Stulac, Salmaan Keshavjee. Paul Farmer is a physician and anthropologist that is very active on this subject and has many different publications on the matter. Paul and the other authors are all involved with Partners in Health. All authors are doctors and very active in global health and efforts. Partners in Health focuses on developing healthcare in countries of need.  

I further researched narrative medicine and  to see how widely it is applied to medical fields today. I also researched the areas in the Middle East that were discussed int eh chapter and read about their customs and traditions to further my understanding of how it may influence their actions medically. I also read other parts of the book in order to gain more information on the topic in general.