Association between long-term stressors and mental health distress following the 2013 Moore tornado: a pilot study

Abstract

Purpose Stress has considerable impacts on human health, potentially leading to issues such as fatigue, anxiety and depression. Resource loss, a common outcome of disasters, has been found to contribute to stress among disaster survivors. Prior research focuses heavily on clinical mental health impacts of disaster experience, with less research on the effect of cumulative stress during long-term recovery. To address this gap, the purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of stressors including resource loss and debt on mental health in a sample of households in Moore, Oklahoma, impacted by a tornado in 2013. Design/methodology/approach For this pilot study, questionnaires were mailed to households residing along the track of the May 2013 tornado in Moore, OK. Descriptive statistics were calculated to report sample characteristics and disaster experience. Independent associations between disaster losses and demographic characteristics with the outcome mental health were examined with χ2 and unadjusted logistic regression analysis. Adjusted logistic regression models were fit to examine resource loss and mental health. Findings Findings suggest that the tornado had considerable impacts on respondents: 56.24 percent (n=36) reported that their homes were destroyed or sustained major damage. Greater resource loss and debt were associated with mental health distress during long-term recovery from the Moore, OK, 2013 tornadoes. Research limitations/implications The association between resource loss and mental health point to a need for interventions to mitigate losses such as bolstering social support networks, incentivizing mitigation and reducing financial constraints on households post-disaster. Originality/value This study contributes to a better understanding of long-term, accumulated stress post-disaster and the impact on health to a literature heavily focused on clinical outcomes.

Mental Health Impacts of Tornadoes: A Systematic Review

“… Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): We found in multiple studies that residents exposed to tornadoes reported PTSD or PTSD-related symptoms. Degree of tornado exposure, gender, age, emotional support, and barriers to a tornado warning were factors related to post-tornado PTSD [ 4 , 15 , 17 , 19 , 21 , 25 , 26 , 32 , 35 , 38 , 39 ]. PTSD, or symptoms associated with PTSD, was also found to be related to other mental and behavioral health needs such as depression [ 20 , 21 , 25 ], binge drinking [ 16 ], or substance abuse [ 15 ].…”

“…Black and Latinx residents who reported difficulties receiving tornado warning alerts experienced more tornado exposure and adverse mental health impacts, and the intersections of ethnicity, language difficulties, citizenship, pre-mental health symptoms, and social class were also found to contribute to additional stressors [ 4 ]. Economic factors: Having lower income, renting, having debt, not having insurance, and loss of material resources were the significant risk factors for post-tornado adverse mental health symptoms [ 19 , 24 , 25 , 29 , 39 ]. However, there was one contradictory finding that, during long-term recovery from the Oklahoma Moore Tornado in 2013, loss of personal characteristics such as self-esteem or confidence were all statistically significantly associated with adverse mental health, whereas material loss did not correlate with mental health outcomes [ 19 ].…”

“… Economic factors: Having lower income, renting, having debt, not having insurance, and loss of material resources were the significant risk factors for post-tornado adverse mental health symptoms [ 19 , 24 , 25 , 29 , 39 ]. However, there was one contradictory finding that, during long-term recovery from the Oklahoma Moore Tornado in 2013, loss of personal characteristics such as self-esteem or confidence were all statistically significantly associated with adverse mental health, whereas material loss did not correlate with mental health outcomes [ 19 ]. Tornado exposure: Multiple studies have identified that tornado exposure (e.g., injury, losing a loved one, property damage) is a strong factor that is linked to negative mental health for children, youth, and adults [ 15 , 17 , 19 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 31 ].…”

Coping resources mediate the prospective associations between disrupted daily routines and persistent psychiatric symptoms: A population-based cohort study

“…Large scale disasters could have huge impact on affected populations through significant mental health tolls and behavioral changes ( Beaglehole et al, 2018 ; Clay and Greer, 2019 ; Parks et al, 2018 ). The COVID-19 pandemic drastically changed the world populations’ daily routines under a variety of infection control measures, such as lockdown, quarantine, and social distancing, while high prevalence of mental health problems was consistently reported ( Vindegaard and Benros, 2020 ).…”

“…Traumatic events trigger an on-set of exposure-related disturbance in daily activities ( Clay and Greer, 2019 ; Miller and Rasmussen, 2010 ). Negative changes in basic livelihood after traumatic events, such as chronic displacement among refugees predicted higher odds of subsequent mental health problems over and beyond the effects of trauma exposure ( Silove et al, 2017 ).…”