Children’s Perspectives on the Impact of the Hazelwood Mine Fire and Subsequent Smoke Event

Berger, Emily; Maybery, Darryl; Carroll, Matthew

doi:10.1007/s10566-020-09551-8

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Given the numerous international health crises that have occurred in the last 20 years (Tu, Tu, Gao, Shao, & Shen, 2020), it is unlikely that the current crisis will be the last. Further, the vulnerabilities of young people in times of natural and other crises (Berger, Maybery, & Carroll, 2020; Peek, 2014; Phelps & Sperry, 2020) suggests that it is critical for researchers, practitioners and policy‐makers to consider, and plan for, the potential mental health impacts of COVID‐19 and associated factors (such as social isolation and quarantining) on children and adolescents. This systematic review aimed to synthesis what is known in this field to inform current responses to COVID‐19 and provide a blueprint for future research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: The mental health implications for children and adolescents impacted by infectious outbreaks – a systematic review

Berger

Jamshidi

Jobson

et al. 2021

Child Adoles Ment Health

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Background This systematic review synthesized available research on the psychological implications for children and adolescents who either were directly or indirectly exposed to an infectious outbreak. On this basis, the current paper aims to provide recommendations for future research, practice and policy regarding children during pandemics. Method A total of 2195 records were retrieved from the PsycINFO, SCOPUS and MEDLINE databases, and three from Google Scholar. Results Including only those papers that focused on children or adolescent’s mental health in association with respiratory infectious outbreaks, 11 articles were identified. The majority of research utilized qualitative or retrospective hospital record data. Children and adolescents reported fear and anxiety, as well as disruptions to their day to day routines as a result of outbreaks. However, children were also able to demonstrate resilience during outbreaks with the right support. Conclusions Children’s psychological response to the outbreak appeared to be largely attributed to how their parents, healthcare providers and the media communicated the event. Recommendations for policy, practitioners and researchers concerning the current COVID‐19 outbreak concludes the paper.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review: The mental health implications for children and adolescents impacted by infectious outbreaks – a systematic review

Berger

Jamshidi

Jobson

et al. 2021

Child Adoles Ment Health

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“…Such an approach, rather than permissive or authoritarian approach to parenting, has been associated with greater resilience in adolescents who had experienced a natural disaster [43]. The efficacy of pairing information with corresponding proactive actions that a child could take to protect themselves and others aligns with a larger literature indicating that children in natural disaster settings benefit from feeling like their understanding of the situation renders them competent, helpful actors [32], as productive behavioural responses are particularly helpful for coping with distress [37]. Interviews with children aged 8-11 with experience of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria revealed remarkable practicality in their knowledge about what to do [33], indicating this education/action pairing is used by parents and caregivers beyond the current sample.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…There were some frequent threads in children's reactions to bushfire smoke, and their communication needs. The most common experience reported was disruptions to daily life, most notably interruptions in schooling and socialization outside, similar to those experienced by children affected by other bushfires [31,32]. There were also recurrent themes in questions children posed about bushfire smoke, which indicated some degree of agentic health literacy in that they interrogated and acted upon the health information adults provided.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Bushfire Smoke and Children’s Health—Exploring a Communication Gap

Walsh

Sargent

Cevik-Compiegne

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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The “Black Summer” bushfires of 2019/2020 in Australia generated smoke that persisted for over three months, mainly affecting Eastern Australia. Most communication strategies focused on the fire itself, revealing a knowledge gap in effective communication of the impact of bushfire smoke on health, especially for children and those living in non-English speaking minority groups. To address this, semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken with sixteen adults with caring (n = 11) or educational (n = 5) responsibilities for primary-school aged children (5–12 years, with some also having children up to 16 years) who had direct experience of the “Black Summer” bushfires. Overall, 43% (n = 7) of the sample spoke English as a first language, 25% (n = 4) spoke Turkish, with the remainder speaking Persian, Arabic, and Spanish. Thematic inductive qualitative content analysis revealed predominant themes of the role of parents and caregivers as conduits and curators of information. Air quality apps were the most common source of information. Language barriers and the lack of child-friendly methods of communication were highlighted as particular challenges. This qualitative study provides evidence for future development of communication strategies to better serve culturally and linguistically diverse individuals and the children in their care.

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“…The impact of the mine fire on academic performance may be due to numerous factors, including disruption to day-to-day operations, 22 traumatic symptoms caused by the mine fire, 37 known associations between air pollution and impaired cognitive function, 38,39 adverse physical health effects of exposure to the Hazelwood mine fire-related air pollution (e.g. respiratory symptoms), 40 ongoing distress experienced by students, teachers and parents 22,41,42 and possibly reduced support from family and community. Given academic underachievement can lead to unemployment, disadvantage and ill-health later in life, 43 it is critical that these impacts are recognised and responded to.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluating the impact of Hazelwood mine fire event on students’ educational development with Bayesian interrupted time series hierarchical meta-regression

Gao

Broder

Brilleman

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Background: Disasters and other community-wide events can introduce significant interruptions and trauma to impacted communities. Children and young people can be disproportionately affected with additional educational disruptions. With the increasing threat of climate change, establishing a timely and adaptable framework to evaluate the impact of disasters on academic achievement is needed. However, analytical challenges are posed by the availability issue of individual-level data. Methods: A new method, Bayesian hierarchical meta-regression, was developed to evaluate the impact of the 2014 Hazelwood mine fire (a six-week fire event in Australia) using only aggregated school-level data from the standardised National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) test. NAPLAN results and school characteristics (2008-2018) from 69 primary/secondary schools with different levels of mine fire-related smoke exposure were used to estimate the impact of the event. Using an interrupted time-series design, the model estimated immediate effects and post-interruption trend differences with full Bayesian statistical inference. Results: Major academic interruptions across NAPLAN domains were evident in high exposure schools in the year post-mine fire (highest in Writing: 11.09 [95%CI: 3.16-18.93], lowest in Reading: 8.34 [95%CI: 1.07-15.51]). The interruption was comparable to a three to four-month delay in educational attainment and had not fully recovered after several years. Conclusions: Considerable academic delays were found as a result of a mine fire, highlighting the need to provide educational and community-based supports in response to future events. Importantly, this work provides a statistical method using readily available aggregated data to assess the educational impacts in response to other disasters

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Children’s Perspectives on the Impact of the Hazelwood Mine Fire and Subsequent Smoke Event

Cited by 10 publications

References 32 publications

Review: The mental health implications for children and adolescents impacted by infectious outbreaks – a systematic review

Review: The mental health implications for children and adolescents impacted by infectious outbreaks – a systematic review

Bushfire Smoke and Children’s Health—Exploring a Communication Gap

Evaluating the impact of Hazelwood mine fire event on students’ educational development with Bayesian interrupted time series hierarchical meta-regression

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