Hope and health in the face of adversity

This dissertation focuses on hope as a general concept, and more specifically on the relationship between hope and health in adversity (the impact of man-made earthquakes in Groningen). The first two chapters show 1) the impact hope and health have on each other over time, especially among people who experience adversity, and 2) that maintaining general hope even when losing hope specific to adversity is beneficial to health. So, especially for those dealing with adversity, maintaining feelings of hope is beneficial to health. However, hope can also be a sign that a person’s situation is hopeless — Nietzsche suggested: “Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man” (1878). We examined this paradox in a study about how people speak about hope in long-term adversity. The findings often align with the positive outcomes we would expect based on our previous findings and the literature on hope. But we also see that hope can be used to discuss dark and desperate thoughts and intentions. Hope is therefore not always a positive signal, as the presence of hope indicates that the person may find themselves in a hopeless and powerless situation. It may indicate that a person is using psychological means to avoid falling into despair. At the same time, the experience of hope in itself is not problematic: it is important to maintain hope in order to minimize negative health outcomes

IMG bezien door de ogen van bewoners:Een analyse van panelgegevens van Gronings Perspectief

Deze rapportage is opgesteld door de onderzoeksgroep Gronings Perspectief (www.groningsperspectief.nl) op verzoek van Andersson Elffers Felix (AEF). De begeleidingscommissie van Gronings Perspectief heeft toestemming verleend om hiervoor gegevens te analyseren van meerdere panelmetingen waarin bewoners van de provincie is gevraagd naar opvattingen over het Instituut Mijnbouwschade Groningen (IMG)

Chronic disaster impact:The long-term psychological and physical health consequences of housing damage due to induced earthquakes

Objectives To evaluate the long-term (psychosomatic) health consequences of man-made earthquakes compared with a non-exposure control group. Exposure was hypothesised to have an increasingly negative impact on health outcomes over time.Setting Large-scale gas extraction in the Netherlands causing earthquakes and considerable damage.Participants A representative sample of inhabitants randomly selected from municipal population records; contacted 5 times during 21 months (T1: N=3934; T5: N=2150; mean age: 56.54; 50% men; at T5, N=846 (39.3%) had no, 459 (21.3%) once and 736 (34.2%) repeated damages).Main measures (Psychosomatic) health outcomes: self-rated health and Mental Health Inventory (both: validated; Short Form Health Survey); stress related health symptoms (shortened version of previously validated symptoms list). Independent variable: exposure to the consequences of earthquakes assessed via physical (peak ground acceleration) and personal exposure (damage to housing: none, once, repeated).Results Exposure to induced earthquakes has negative health consequences especially for those whose homes were damaged repeatedly. Compared with a no-damage control group, repeated damage was associated with lower self-rated health (OR:1.64), mental health (OR:1.83) and more stress-related health symptoms (OR:2.52). Effects increased over time: in terms of relative risk, by T5, those whose homes had repeated damage were respectively 1.60 and 2.11 times more likely to report poor health and negative mental health and 2.84 times more at risk of elevated stress related health symptoms. Results for physical exposure were comparable.Conclusion This is the first study to provide evidence that induced earthquakes can have negative health consequences for inhabitants over time. It identifies the subpopulation particularly at risk: people with repeated damages who have experienced many earthquakes. Findings can have important implications for the prevention of negative health consequences of induced earthquakes