Long-Term Mental Health Effects of a Devastating Wildfire Are Amplified by Socio-Demographic and Clinical Antecedents in Elementary and High School Staff

Agyapong, Vincent Israel Opoku; Ritchie, Amanda S.; Brown, Matthew; Noble, Shannon; Mankowsi, Monica; Denga, Edward; Nwaka, Bernard; Akinjise, Idowu; Corbett, Sandra; Moosavi, Shahram; Chue, Pierre; Li, Xinmin; Silverstone, Peter H.; Greenshaw, Andrew J.

doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00448

Cited by 36 publications

(64 citation statements)

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“…Insufficient social support during the post-disaster period is associated with various psychological symptoms after the disaster ( 6 , 7 , 13 , 26 , 91 ), as well as disorders like PTSD ( 13 ) major depressive disorder (MDD) and prolonged grief disorder (PGD) ( 56 ). On the contrary, stronger social support resources have been related to greater resilience ( 18 ), which may function as a buffer against negative mental health effect of stressful events through influencing how people manage the situation ( 92 ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…• Support from family/friends following wildfires may be protective against likely PTSD, • A prior diagnosis of an anxiety disorder significantly increased risk for developing PTSD Agyapong et al (26) This study describes the changes in the stress, anxiety, and depression levels of subscribers to the Text4Hope program after 6 weeks of exposure to daily supportive SMS text messages.…”

Section: References Study Aims Methods Main Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Females have consistently been regarded as one of the key factors for post-disaster mental health problems (21)(22)(23)(24)(25). Many researches indicate that, psychological adverse consequences of disasters, such as PTSD and depression, are usually more serious for women survivors (6,13,(26)(27)(28). Others like Brewin et al (29) found that factors such as gender predicted PTSD in some populations but not in others.…”

Section: Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Social Determinants in Mental Health and Resilience After Disasters: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice

Mao

Agyapong

2021

Front. Public Health

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In this general literature review, we will explore the impacts and contribution of social determinants to mental health and resiliency following both natural and man-made disasters. Natural disasters, such as wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, and hurricanes, as well as man-made disasters, such as civil wars, have been known to inflict significant damage to the mental health of the victims. In this paper, we mainly explore some most studied vulnerability and protective social determinant factors such as gender, age, ethnicity, socials support and socioeconomic status for the mental health and resiliency in survivors of such disasters. Several other possible factors such as previous trauma, childhood abuse, family psychiatric history, and subsequent life stress that were explored by some studies were also discussed. We conducted a literature search in major scientific databases, using keywords such as: mental health, social determinants, disasters, wildfires, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, and resilience. We discuss the implications for public health policy and practice.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: References Study Aims Methods Main Findingsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Gendermentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Role of Social Determinants in Mental Health and Resilience After Disasters: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice

Mao

Agyapong

2021

Front. Public Health

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“…PM 2.5 levels exceeding the 24 h national standard of 35 μg/m 3 have been reported during wildfire events in southern California, with concentrations in some cases over 10 times (>230 μg/m 3 ) higher than background levels [ 19 , 20 ]. Importantly, wildfire impacts to individuals may be exacerbated depending on the socioeconomic characteristics of affected communities [ 14 , 21 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disproportionate Impacts of Wildfires among Elderly and Low-Income Communities in California from 2000–2020

Masri

Scaduto

Jin

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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Wildfires can be detrimental to urban and rural communities, causing impacts in the form of psychological stress, direct physical injury, and smoke-related morbidity and mortality. This study examined the area burned by wildfires over the entire state of California from the years 2000 to 2020 in order to quantify and identify whether burned area and fire frequency differed across Census tracts according to socioeconomic indicators over time. Wildfire data were obtained from the California Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP) and National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), while demographic data were obtained from the American Community Survey. Results showed a doubling in the number of Census tracts that experienced major wildfires and a near doubling in the number of people residing in wildfire-impacted Census tracts, mostly due to an over 23,000 acre/year increase in the area burned by wildfires over the last two decades. Census tracts with a higher fire frequency and burned area had lower proportions of minority groups on average. However, when considering Native American populations, a greater proportion resided in highly impacted Census tracts. Such Census tracts also had higher proportions of older residents. In general, high-impact Census tracts tended to have higher proportions of low-income residents and lower proportions of high-income residents, as well as lower median household incomes and home values. These findings are important to policymakers and state agencies as it relates to environmental justice and the allocation of resources before, during, and after wildfires in the state of California.

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“…Previous studies have also reported links between wildfires and adverse mental health effects in adults and children, including increased symptoms of PTSD (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24), increased symptoms of depression and anxiety (17,19,(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28), mental health difficulties (18,29,30), reduction in health and wellbeing (31), increased consumption of anxiolytics-hypnotics (32), and decreased capacity to cope with adversity (33). The combined adverse impacts of wildfire disasters on individuals' mental health and coping abilities, particularly in youth, are important because coping plays a major role in post-disaster recovery, and lack thereof can be detrimental to long-term mental health outcomes [also see (34)].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mental Health Symptoms Unexpectedly Increased in Students Aged 11–19 Years During the 3.5 Years After the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire: Findings From 9,376 Survey Responses

et al. 2021

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In Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, the wildfire of May 2016 forced the population of 88,000 to rapidly evacuate in a traumatic and chaotic manner. Ten percentage of the homes in the city were destroyed, and many more structures were damaged. Since youth are particularly vulnerable to negative effects of natural disasters, we examined possible long-term psychological impacts. To assess this, we partnered with Fort McMurray Public and Catholic Schools, who surveyed Grade 7–12 students (aged 11–19) in November 2017, 2018, and 2019—i.e., at 1.5, 2.5, and 3.5 years after the wildfire. The survey included validated measurement scales for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, drug use, alcohol use, tobacco use, quality of life, self-esteem, and resilience. Data analysis was done on large-scale anonymous surveys including 3,070 samples in 2017; 3,265 samples in 2018; and 3,041 samples in 2019. The results were unexpected and showed that all mental health symptoms increased from 2017 to 2019, with the exception of tobacco use. Consistent with this pattern, self-esteem and quality of life scores decreased. Resilience scores did not change significantly. Thus, mental health measures worsened, in contrast to our initial hypothesis that they would improve over time. Of note, we observed higher levels of mental health distress among older students, in females compared to male students, and in individuals with a minority gender identity, including transgender and gender-non-conforming individuals. These findings demonstrate that deleterious mental health effects can persist in youth for years following a wildfire disaster. This highlights the need for multi-year mental health support programs for youth in post-disaster situations. The indication that multi-year, post-disaster support is warranted is relatively novel, although not unknown. There is a need to systematically investigate factors associated with youth recovery following a wildfire disaster, as well as efficacy of psychosocial strategies during later phases of disaster recovery relative to early post-disaster interventions.

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Long-Term Mental Health Effects of a Devastating Wildfire Are Amplified by Socio-Demographic and Clinical Antecedents in Elementary and High School Staff

Cited by 36 publications

References 50 publications

The Role of Social Determinants in Mental Health and Resilience After Disasters: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice

The Role of Social Determinants in Mental Health and Resilience After Disasters: Implications for Public Health Policy and Practice

Disproportionate Impacts of Wildfires among Elderly and Low-Income Communities in California from 2000–2020

Mental Health Symptoms Unexpectedly Increased in Students Aged 11–19 Years During the 3.5 Years After the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire: Findings From 9,376 Survey Responses

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