The Effect of Displacement on the Association Between Landslides and Mental Wellbeing
Abstract
Population displacement should be considered as a possible pathway between climate change and mental health. To prepare for future conditions of global climate change, it is important that we better understand the effects of natural disasters and subsequent relocation on mental health today. This study focused on the effect of landslides in Banjarnegara, Indonesia. Landslides result in the displacement of millions of people each year, but to our knowledge no studies have considered how landslide-displacement impacts mental health. Landslides in Indonesia are expected to increase due to climate change, and landslide risk may be exacerbated by increasing slope instability due to deforestation. In this study, we surveyed 420 individuals who experienced landslides over the past 5 years and compared mental wellbeing between those who were displaced and those who were not displaced. We used mixed-effect generalized linear regressions to assess the effect of displacement on mental health outcomes (post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, and depression) and on "community-based definitions" of mental wellbeing that were developed during an earlier phase of this project. These indicators included feelings of safety, optimism, economic stability, religiosity, and closeness with family and community. Results show a protective effect of displacement, which was higher when considering community-based definitions of mental wellbeing compared to standard mental health metrics. Compared to those who did not relocate, those who were displaced were more likely to report increases in economic stability after the landslide (odds ratio and 95% confidence interval: 3.97, 1.89 - 8.33), optimism about the future (2.61, 1.12 - 6.07), and feelings of safety (4.45, 2.18 - 9.06). These findings indicate that in certain contexts, relocation may serve as an adaptive strategy to mitigate the adverse mental health impacts of climate change related disasters. Further, this work underscores the importance of careful outcome assessment as we consider the impacts of climate change on mental health. Community-based participatory research presents one opportunity to critically assess how and by whom mental health is defined, which may allow us to more fully capture the impacts of climate-related mobility.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMGH019..04B
- Keywords:
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- 0230 Impacts of climate change: human health;
- GEOHEALTH;
- 0240 Public health;
- GEOHEALTH;
- 1630 Impacts of global change;
- GLOBAL CHANGE;
- 4330 Vulnerability;
- NATURAL HAZARDS