The impact of uncertainty and communal coping on mental health following natural disasters

Abstract

Feelings of uncertainty are a central feature of the disaster experience. Surprisingly, though, there is very little systematic quantitative research about the impact of uncertainty on disaster survivors. Moreover, communal coping has increasingly received attention as a potential buffer of the negative effects of stressors but that literature is also limited in its application to disasters. This investigation applies research in the domain of uncertainty, together with the Theoretical Model of Communal Coping to better understand the experience of a community exposed to three wildfires in a one year period. A random-digit dialing procedure was used to gather data from 402 individuals. Participants completed measures of mental health, uncertainty, and communal coping in the context of their experience with the most personally stressful of the three wildfires. All analyses were examined separately for those who were evacuated and those who were not. Results support the negative impact of uncertainty across both evacuated and nonevacuated sub-samples and show a strong buffering role for communal coping among those who evacuated. The implications of these findings for the understanding of wildfire survivors' experiences are noted and future directions are proposed.

“We Were All in the Same Boat”: An Exploratory Study of Communal Coping in Disaster Recovery

“…Another communication behavior, seeking support, is also characteristic of communal coping strategies as reported by Ibañez, Buck, Khatchikian, and Norris (2004) in their study of Mexican disaster survivors. Afifi et al (2012) found wildfire evacuees engaged in more communal coping efforts than non-evacuees. They further concluded that communal coping acted as a buffer against uncertainty and mental health for evacuees.…”

“…Because disaster recovery produces a communal, or co-owned, experience (Afifi et al, 2012) and a recognition that others' opinions and collective action will address a problem (Afifi et al, 2006), it seems a prime context for viewing communal coping behaviors. Communal coping is most applicable to groups who experience a unified stressor such as a natural disaster and must collectively confront it (Afifi et al, 2006).…”

Community Wildfire Preparedness: a Global State-of-the-Knowledge Summary of Social Science Research

“…These include indigenous concerns [33,70,71], examination of different fire management discourses [72-74, 75•, 76], and understanding the physical and mental health impacts of experiencing a wildfire event [54,[77][78][79][80][81][82]. In addition, a number of articles in the Australian literature have begun to explore the role of land use planning in mitigating fire risk [58,83,84] and how gender dynamics can influence preparedness and management dynamics [85,86].…”

The Effects of Implementing and Activating the Early Warning System on the Preparedness of Sari Imam Khomeini Hospital (RH) in Disasters and Incidents

“…However, most hospitals are normally late in their preparedness and giving appropriate responces. This delay is mostly because of financial problems and inappropriate understanding of the status of a hospital in giving services during the incidents [2].…”

“…History proves that human communities have always been involved in different types of disasters. More than 600 disasters are recorded annually, accounting for more than 90% causalties in developing countries, which indicate an essential threat [2].…”