Non-specific psychological distress following the Christchurch earthquake:10 Years later-how are they doing now?
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Date
2023-09-11
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School of Psychology, Massey University, New Zealand
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Abstract
Christchurch, Aotearoa New Zealand, had two major earthquakes in 2010 and 2011, with thousands of aftershocks relatively close to each other. Disasters affect peoples’ lives in many ways resulting in changes to family and social relationships, employment, education, and other roles in life. Often these impacts are hidden while people struggle to cope with the immediate task of survival and surface later, after the initial reactions have subsided. This study uses in-depth interviews conducted between 2018 and 2020 to explore the longer-term impact of the earthquake on the mental health and wellbeing of a randomised sub-sample of 60 clients out of the 858 who attended for counselling at the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust (CCHT). Self-report measures on the 36-Item Short Form health survey (SF-36v2) and the Demoralization Scale (DS-II) were completed to ascertain the participants’ current social, physical, and mental health functioning. A comparison of the CCHT SF-36v2 scores with age-specific respondents in the New Zealand 2006/07 national health survey showed that in terms of mental wellbeing the participants in this study had significantly (p < .001) poorer health than the national sample. The ongoing aftershocks and secondary stressors were also causing continual disruptions in their lives. Overall, these findings show that many years later the participants in this study were still recovering from the psychological impact of the earthquakes. This indicates the need for the development of longer-term mental health care strategies that can be better integrated into future disaster planning.
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Briggs L, Hay K, Fronek P, Bagshaw S. (2023). Non-specific psychological distress following the Christchurch earthquake:10 Years later-how are they doing now?. Australasian Journal of Disaster and Trauma Studies. 27. 1. (pp. 3-14).