Drury John, Stancombe John, Williams Richard, Collins Hannah, Lagan Lizzie, Barrett Alan, French Paul, Chitsabesan Prathiba
School of Psychology, University of Sussex, UK.
Young People's Mental Health Research Unit, Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust, UK.
BJPsych Open. 2022 Jul 4;8(4):e124. doi: 10.1192/bjo.2022.528.
Much of the psychosocial care people receive after major incidents and disasters is informal and is provided by families, friends, peer groups and wider social networks. Terrorist attacks have increased in recent years. Therefore, there is a need to better understand and facilitate the informal social support given to survivors.
We addressed three questions. First, what is the nature of any informal support-seeking and provision for people who experienced the 2017 Manchester Arena terrorist attack? Second, who provided support, and what makes it helpful? Third, to what extent do support groups based on shared experience of the attack operate as springboards to recovery?
Semi-structured interviews were carried out with a purposive sample of 18 physically non-injured survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing, registered at the NHS Manchester Resilience Hub. Interview transcripts were thematically analysed.
Participants often felt constrained from sharing their feelings with friends and families, who were perceived as unable to understand their experiences. They described a variety of forms of helpful informal social support, including social validation, which was a feature of support provided by others based on shared experience. For many participants, accessing groups based on shared experience was an important factor in their coping and recovery, and was a springboard to personal growth.
We recommend that people who respond to survivors' psychosocial and mental healthcare needs after emergencies and major incidents should facilitate interventions for survivors and their social networks that maximise the benefits of shared experience and social validation.
人们在重大事件和灾难后获得的心理社会护理大多是非正式的，由家人、朋友、同龄人群体和更广泛的社会网络提供。近年来，恐怖袭击有所增加。因此，有必要更好地理解并促进向幸存者提供的非正式社会支持。
我们探讨了三个问题。第一，对于经历2017年曼彻斯特竞技场恐怖袭击的人来说，寻求和提供的任何非正式支持的性质是什么？第二，谁提供了支持，以及是什么使其有帮助？第三，基于袭击共同经历的支持小组在多大程度上成为康复的跳板？
对在英国国民健康服务体系曼彻斯特复原力中心登记的18名曼彻斯特竞技场爆炸事件中身体未受伤的幸存者进行了有目的抽样的半结构式访谈。对访谈记录进行了主题分析。
参与者常常觉得难以与朋友和家人分享自己的感受，因为他们认为朋友和家人无法理解他们的经历。他们描述了各种形式的有益的非正式社会支持，包括社会认可，这是基于共同经历由他人提供的支持的一个特点。对许多参与者来说，加入基于共同经历的小组是他们应对和康复的一个重要因素，也是个人成长的一个跳板。
我们建议，在紧急情况和重大事件后应对幸存者心理社会和精神卫生保健需求的人员，应推动针对幸存者及其社会网络的干预措施，以最大限度地发挥共同经历和社会认可的益处。
