One Year after the Flood: Prevalence and Correlates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Residents in Fort McMurray

Behavioral Sciences

Ejemai Eboreime¹  Folajinmi Oluwasina¹  Belinda Agyapong¹  Reham Shalaby¹  Gloria Obuobi-Donkor¹  Wanying Mao¹  Vincent I. O. Agyapong¹  Nnamdi Nkire¹  Medard Adu¹  Hannah Pazderka¹  Yanbo Zhang¹  Ernest Owusu¹ 

[1] Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada;

关键词: PTSD;    trauma;    flood;    natural disaster;    mental health;    support;   

DOI  :  10.3390/bs12030069

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Background: The 2020 Fort McMurray (FMM) and area flood caused more than $228 million in insured damage, affected over 1200 structures, and more than 13,000 people were evacuated. Objective: This study sought to determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms and the risk predictors among the population of FMM one year after the 2020 flooding. Methods: An online quantitative cross-sectional survey was distributed to residents of FMM via REDCap between 24 April to 2 June 2021 to collect sociodemographic, clinical, and flood-related information. The PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-C) was used to assess likely PTSD among respondents. Results: 186 of 249 respondents completed all essential self-assessment questionnaires in the analysis, yielding a response rate of 74.7%. The prevalence of likely PTSD was 39.6% (65). Respondents with a history of depression were more likely to develop PTSD symptoms (OR = 5.71; 95% CI: 1.68–19.36). Similarly, responders with limited and no family support after the disaster were more prone to report PTSD symptoms ((OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.02–8.05) and (OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.06–7.74), respectively). Conclusions: Our research indicated that history of depression and the need for mental health counseling significantly increased the risk of developing PTSD symptoms following flooding; family support is protective. Further studies are needed to explore the relations between the need to receive counseling and presenting with likely PTSD symptoms.

【 授权许可】

Unknown