Adebäck Petra, Schulman Abbe, Nilsson Doris
a Department of Neurobiology Care Sciences and Society, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care , Karolinska Institutet , Huddinge , Sweden.
b Department for Behavioral Sciences and Learning, Section for Clinical Psychology , Linköping University , Linköping , Sweden.
Nord J Psychiatry. 2018 Jan;72(1):75-81. doi: 10.1080/08039488.2017.1382569. Epub 2017 Oct 9.
There is a need for studies that follow up children and adolescents for many years post disaster since earlier studies have shown that exposure during natural disasters constitutes a risk factor for poor psychological health.
The main aim was to examine whether there was an association between severity of exposures during a natural disaster experienced in childhood or adolescence and posttraumatic stress symptoms, psychological distress, self-rated health, diagnosis of depression, anxiety or worry, thoughts about or attempted suicide, physical symptoms or daily functioning eight years later in young adulthood. A second aim was to compare psychological distress and self-rated health of exposed young adults with a matched population-based sample.
Young adults, who experienced the 2004 tsunami as children between 10 and 15 years of age, responded to a questionnaire eight years post disaster. The results were compared to a matched population sample.
The results showed that the likelihood for negative psychological outcomes was higher for those who had been exposed to several types of exposures during this natural disaster.
The negative psychological impact on children and adolescents can still be present eight years post-disaster and seems to have association with the type of exposure; loss, physical presence and subjective experience. It is important for clinicians, who meet young adults seeking help, to be conscious about the impact as long as eight years post disaster and to be aware of possible clinical implications associated with severity of exposures.
由于早期研究表明，自然灾害期间的暴露是心理健康不佳的一个风险因素，因此有必要开展对儿童和青少年进行多年灾后随访的研究。
主要目的是检验童年或青少年时期经历的自然灾害期间暴露的严重程度与八年后青年期的创伤后应激症状、心理困扰、自评健康状况、抑郁、焦虑或担忧的诊断、自杀念头或自杀未遂、身体症状或日常功能之间是否存在关联。第二个目的是将受影响的青年成年人的心理困扰和自评健康状况与匹配的基于人群的样本进行比较。
在2004年海啸发生时年龄在10至15岁之间的儿童时期经历过海啸的青年成年人在灾后八年对一份问卷做出了回应。将结果与匹配的人群样本进行比较。
结果表明，在这场自然灾害中遭受多种暴露类型的人出现负面心理结果的可能性更高。
对儿童和青少年的负面心理影响在灾后八年仍然可能存在，并且似乎与暴露类型有关；损失、实际经历和主观体验。对于接待寻求帮助的青年成年人的临床医生来说，重要的是要意识到长达灾后八年的影响，并了解与暴露严重程度相关的可能临床意义。
