Association between social support and recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder after flood: a 13–14 year follow-up study in Hunan, China
Open Access
- 29 February 2016
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in BMC Public Health
- Vol. 16 (1), 1-9
- https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-016-2871-x
Abstract
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent long-term psychiatric disorders among survivors of traumatic events. It is well established that social support has been related to the onset of PTSD after natural disasters. However, very little is known whether or not social support has had an influence on the recovery from the PTSD that was diagnosed after floods. This study, therefore, made a follow-up assessment of PTSD in flood victims 13–14 years after they were diagnosed with PTSD in 2000 to measure the prevalence rate of PTSD among them and identify the association between social support and their recovery from PTSD. Victims who had experienced Dongting Lake flood in 1998 and had been diagnosed as having PTSD in 2000 were enrolled in this study. A follow-up survey was done between the years 2013 and 2014 to diagnose the victims again of PTSD using the DSM-IV criteria. Social support and its three dimensions were measured using the Chinese version of Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), including objective support, subjective support and support utilization. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to examine the relationship between social support and the recovery from PTSD after flood. Out of 321 subjects with prior PTSD, 51 (15.89 %) were diagnosed as still having PTSD. Logistic regression analyses indicated that the recovery from prior PTSD was significantly associated with social support (odds ratio (OR) =0.202, 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI): 0.047–0.878), subjective support (OR = 0.236, 95 % CI: 0.080–0.694) and support utilization (OR = 0.245, 95 % CI: 0.071–0.844). The prevalence rate of current PTSD indicates that natural disasters, such as floods, may affect the mental health of victims for a long time. Social support was significantly associated with the recovery from prior PTSD, especially subjective support and support utilization.Keywords
Funding Information
- the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20130162110054)
This publication has 40 references indexed in Scilit:
- The effects of combat exposure, abusive violence, and sense of coherence on PTSD and depression in Portuguese colonial war veterans.Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 2016
- Effects of the 2008 flood on economic performance and food security in Yemen: a simulation analysisDisasters, 2015
- Chronic probable ptsd in police responders in the world trade center health registry ten to eleven years after 9/11American Journal of Industrial Medicine, 2015
- A Meta-Analysis of Risk Factors for Combat-Related PTSD among Military Personnel and VeteransPLOS ONE, 2015
- The Effectiveness of Mindfulness Training in Improving the Quality of Life of the War Victims with Post Traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)2014
- Post-traumatic stress disorder in DSM-5: Estimates of prevalence and criteria comparison versus DSM-IV-TR in a non-clinical sample of earthquake survivorsJournal of Affective Disorders, 2013
- Support Mechanisms and Vulnerabilities in Relation to PTSD in Veterans of the Gulf War, Iraq War, and Afghanistan Deployments: A Systematic ReviewJournal of Traumatic Stress, 2013
- PTSD in a One Year Old Girl After the Wenchuan Earthquake in Sichuan, ChinaPsychiatry: Interpersonal & Biological Processes, 2011
- Social support and PTSD symptoms in war-traumatized women in Bosnia and Herzegovina.2008
- Social Support and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Flood Victims in Hunan, ChinaAnnals of Epidemiology, 2007