Question

Exposure to natural disasters has been linked to a range of adverse outcomes, including mental health problems (e.g., posttraumatic stress symptoms [PTSS), depression), declines in role functioning (e.g., occupational difficulties), and physical health problems (e.g., somatic complaints). However, prior research and theory suggest that the modal postdisaster response in each of these domains is resilience, defined as low levels of symptoms or problems in a given outcome over time, with minimal elevations that are limited to the time period during the disaster and its immediate aftermath. However, the extent to which disaster survivors exhibit mental health wellness (resilience across multiple mental health conditions) or general wellness (resilience across mental health, physical health, and role functioning domains) remains unexplored. The purpose of this study was to quantify mental health and general wellness, and to examine predictors of each form of wellness, in a three-wave population-based study of Hurricane Ike survivors (N = 658). Latent class growth analysis was used to determine the frequency of resilience on four outcomes (PTSS: 74.9%; depression: 57.9%; functional impairment: 45.1%; days of poor health: 52.6%), and cross-tabulations were used to determine the frequency of mental health wellness (51.2%) and general wellness (26.1%). Significant predictors of both mental health and general wellness included lower peri-event emotional reactions and higher community-level collective efficacy; loss of sentimental possessions or pets and disaster-related financial loss were negative predictors of mental health wellness, and loss of personal property was a negative predictor of general wellness. The results suggest that studies focusing on a single postdisaster outcome may have overestimated the prevalence of mental health and general wellness, and that peri-event responses, personal property loss and collective efficacy have a cross-cutting influence across multiple domains of postdisaster functioning.

1). what is the health and wellness issue

2). what is th purpose of this study

Answer 1

1. It is observed that victims of natural disasters experience physical and mental health issues as well as occupational difficulties. It is also seen that people develop resilience in these domains. But what remains to be explored is the extent to which victims of natural disasters experience mental and physical wellness during the disaster phase and in the period after the disaster phase. Hence the resilience across mental wellness, physical health and role functioning in the event of a disaster and the influence of the disaster on these domains is the health and wellness issue.

2. The purpose of the study is to quantify the mental health and general wellness of a population that had faced a natural disaster and to determine the predictors of mental health, general wellness and role functioning among people who have been victims of the disaster.

The research explored the resilience of victims of the Ike Hurricane on four outcomes: post traumatic stress syndrome, depression, functional impairment and days of poor health.