Mental Health Problems among Children One-Year after Sichuan Earthquake in China: A Follow-up Study

Background: On May 12, 2008, a destructive earthquake registering 8.0 on the Richter scale struck Sichuan Province, southwest China. Beichuan County was the epicenter which was one of the areas nearly completely destroyed by the earthquake. In Beichuan, about 15000 people died and 3000 people were missing. Specially, the earthquake took 1587 students' and 214 teachers' lives from the elementary and middle schools there. The main purpose of the study was to provide a better understanding of mental health problems and associated risk factors among children after earthquake

Life Events, Coping, and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Chinese Adolescents Exposed to 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, China

PURPOSE: To examine the relationship between negative life events, coping styles, and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adolescent survivors exposed to 2008 Wenchuan Earthquake, China. METHODS: A survey was conducted in a sample of 2250 adolescent students from two schools in Dujiangyan District, a seriously damaged area, 20 kilometers away from the epicenter, 6 months after the earthquake. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire including demographics, negative life events, coping styles, and PTSD symptoms. RESULTS: Academic pressure was the strongest predictor of adolescents' PTSD symptoms among all negative life events. Main effects of negative life events, positive coping and negative coping on PTSD symptoms were significant in both younger adolescents and older adolescents, while the moderator effects of two coping styles were found significant only within older adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Coping may play a role to moderate the relationship between post-earthquake negative life events and PTSD symptom, but the function seems to depend on the age of participants. Psychosocial coping skills training may be important in the prevention and intervention of mental health problems in adolescent survivors of traumatic earthquake

Family violence, war, and natural disasters: A study of the effect of extreme stress on children's mental health in Sri Lanka

Catani C, Jacob N, Schauer E, Kohila M, Neuner F. Family violence, war, and natural disasters: a study of the effect of extreme stress on children's mental health in Sri Lanka. BMC Psychiatry. 2008;8(1): 33.BACKGROUND: The consequences of war violence and natural disasters on the mental health of children as well as on family dynamics remain poorly understood. Aim of the present investigation was to establish the prevalence and predictors of traumatic stress related to war, family violence and the recent Tsunami experience in children living in a region affected by a long-lasting violent conflict. In addition, the study looked at whether higher levels of war violence would be related to higher levels of violence within the family and whether this would result in higher rates of psychological problems in the affected children. METHODS: 296 Tamil school children in Sri Lanka's North-Eastern provinces were randomly selected for the survey. Diagnostic interviews were carried out by extensively trained local Master level counselors. PTSD symptoms were established by means of a validated Tamil version of the UCLA PTSD Index. Additionally, participants completed a detailed checklist of event types related to organized and family violence. RESULTS: 82.4% of the children had experienced at least one war-related event. 95.6% reported at least one aversive experience out of the family violence spectrum. The consequences are reflected in a 30.4% PTSD and a 19.6% Major Depression prevalence. Linear regression analyses showed that fathers' alcohol intake and previous exposure to war were significantly linked to the amount of maltreatment reported by the child. A clear dose-effect relationship between exposure to various stressful experiences and PTSD was found in the examined children. CONCLUSION: Data argue for a relationship between war violence and violent behavior inflicted on children in their families. Both of these factors, together with the experience of the recent Tsunami, resulted as significant predictors of PTSD in children, thus highlighting the detrimental effect that the experience of cumulative stress can have on children's mental health

Toward the way forward: building an emergency mental health system for Israel

A number of related changes have evolved over the past 25 years: the development of a truly national disaster mental health service in Israel; progress in the science of risk, resilience and evidence base care for those suffering from traumatic stress related disorders; and the development of conceptual models of population level disaster mental health response in the context of emergency management systems such as the Incident Command System. In a recent IJHPR article, Bodas, et al. report on the dynamic history of disaster mental health response in Israel, which informed by the all too numerous real world events affecting the region. What is most striking is that the system now in place reflects true “lessons learned” in that problems and issues identified in incidents informed deliberative planning, and the current system reflects many iterations of “lessons observed and learned”. There appears to be commitment across sectors of government in Israel that the mental health consequences of disasters and terrorism are important and a priority. This is advanced thinking and sound policy. As the system in Israel continues to evolve, additional possibilities are offered for further consideration, based on the author’s US-centric experience, to advance emergency response systems in Israel, the Middle East and around the world

Traumatic experiences and mental health consequences among child survivors of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake: a community-based follow-up study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The study was implemented to examine the relationship between traumatic experiences and longitudinal development of mental health for children and adolescents who survived the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using the method of multistage systematic sampling, 596 children aged between 8 and 16 years were randomly selected from severely affected areas of the earthquake. These children were interviewed with standardized instruments of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression at the 15th month after the earthquake, and re-interviewed at the 36th month.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From the initial to the follow-up assessments, there were no significant changes in both PTSD and depression scores. In addition, no significant change was found on the overall prevalence rates of the symptoms: from 12.4% to 10.7% for PTSD, from 13.9% to 13.5% for depression, and from 4.2% to 4.7% for their co-occurrence. The study also indicated that the earthquake might have a delayed impact on the psychosocial functioning of children and adolescents who were not directly affected by the disaster.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>For child and adolescent survivors of the earthquake, symptoms of PTSD and depression seemed to persist over time. The finding that children reduced their use of mental health services raised great concerns over how to fulfill the unmet psychological needs of these children. More mental health interventions should be allocated to children who had elevated risk for developing persistent course of the symptoms.</p