New Mental Health Study Findings Recently Were Reported by S. Foudi and Co-Researchers (The effect of flooding on mental health: Lessons learned for…

Ecology, Environment & Conservation

New Mental Health Study Findings Recently Were Reported by S. Foudi and Co-Researchers (The effect of flooding on mental health: Lessons learned for building resilience)

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation -- Investigators discuss new findings in Mental Health. According to news originating from Leioa, Spain, by VerticalNews correspondents, research stated, "Risk management and climate adaptation literature focuses mainly on reducing the impacts of, exposure to, and vulnerability to extreme events such as floods and droughts. Posttraumatic stress disorder is one of the most important impacts related to these events, but also a relatively under-researched topic outside original psychopathological contexts."

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research, "We conduct a survey to investigate the mental stress caused by floods. We focus on hydrological, individual, and collective drivers of posttraumatic stress. We assess stress with flood-specific health scores and the GHQ-12 General Health Questionnaire. Our findings show that the combination of water depth and flood velocity measured via a Hazard Class Index is an important stressor; and that mental health resilience can be significantly improved by providing the population with adequate information."

According to the news editors, the research concluded: "More specifically, the paper shows that psychological distress can be reduced by (i) coordinating awareness of flood risks and flood protection and prevention behavior; (ii) developing the ability to protect oneself from physical, material and intangible damage; (iii) designing simple insurance procedures and protocols for fast recovery; and (iv) learning from previous experiences."

For more information on this research see: The effect of flooding on mental health: Lessons learned for building resilience. Water Resources Research, 2017;53(7):5831-5844. Water Resources Research can be contacted at: Amer Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Ave NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA. (American Geophysical Union - www.agu.org; Water Resources Research - www.agu.org/journals/wr/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from S. Foudi, Basque Center Climate Change, Leioa, Spain. Additional authors for this research include N. Oses-Eraso and I. Galarraga.