气候变化领域集成服务门户(CCPortal): Mitigating Psychological Problems Associated with the 2023 Wildfires in Alberta and Nova Scotia: Six-Week Outcomes from the Text4Hope Program

CCPortal

DOI	10.3390/jcm13030865
	Mitigating Psychological Problems Associated with the 2023 Wildfires in Alberta and Nova Scotia: Six-Week Outcomes from the Text4Hope Program
	Obuobi-Donkor, Gloria; Shalaby, Reham; Agyapong, Belinda; da Luz Dias, Raquel; Agyapong, Vincent Israel Opoku
发表日期	2024
EISSN	2077-0383
起始页码	13
结束页码	3
卷号	13 期号:3
英文摘要	Background: In 2023, wildfires led to widespread destruction of property and displacement of residents in Alberta and Nova Scotia, Canada. Previous research suggests that wildfires increase the psychological burden of impacted communities, necessitating population-level interventions. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)-based text message interventions, Text4HopeAB and Text4HopeNS, were launched in Alberta and Nova Scotia, respectively, during the 2023 wildfire season to support the mental health of impacted individuals. Objectives: The study examines the effectiveness of Text4HopeNS and Text4HopeAB in alleviating psychological symptoms and improving wellbeing among subscribers. Methods: The study involved longitudinal and naturalistic controlled trial designs. The longitudinal study comprised subscribers who completed program surveys at baseline and six weeks post-enrolment, while the naturalistic controlled study compared psychological symptoms in subscribers who had received daily supportive text messages for six weeks (intervention group) and new subscribers who had enrolled in the program during the same period but had not yet received any text messages (control group). The severity of low resilience, poor mental wellbeing, likely Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), likely Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), likely Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and suicidal ideation were measured on the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), the World Health Organization-5 Wellbeing Index (WHO-5), Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) scale, PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C), and the ninth question on the PHQ-9, respectively. The paired and independent sample t-tests were employed in data analysis. Results: The results from the longitudinal study indicated a significant reduction in the mean scores on the PHQ-9 (-12.3%), GAD-7 (-14.8%), and the PCL-C (-5.8%), and an increase in the mean score on the WHO-5, but not on the BRS, from baseline to six weeks. In the naturalistic controlled study, the intervention group had a significantly lower mean score on the PHQ-9 (-30.1%), GAD-7 (-29.4%), PCL-C (-17.5%), and the ninth question on the PHQ-9 (-60.0%) which measures the intensity of suicidal ideation, and an increase in the mean score on the WHO-5 (+24.7%), but not on the BRS, from baseline to six weeks compared to the control group. Conclusions: The results of this study suggests that the Text4Hope program is an effective intervention for mitigating psychological symptoms in subscribers during wildfires. This CBT-based text messaging program can be adapted to provide effective support for individuals' mental health, especially in the context of traumatic events and adverse experiences such as those induced by climate change. Policymakers and mental health professionals should consider these findings when shaping strategies for future disaster response efforts, emphasizing the value of scalable and culturally sensitive mental health interventions.
英文关键词	wildfire; psychological problems; Alberta; Nova Scotia; text messaging
语种	英语
WOS研究方向	General & Internal Medicine
WOS类目	Medicine, General & Internal
WOS记录号	WOS:001160224600001
来源期刊	JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
文献类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://gcip.llas.ac.cn/handle/2XKMVOVA/306468
作者单位	Dalhousie University; University of Alberta
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Obuobi-Donkor, Gloria,Shalaby, Reham,Agyapong, Belinda,et al. Mitigating Psychological Problems Associated with the 2023 Wildfires in Alberta and Nova Scotia: Six-Week Outcomes from the Text4Hope Program[J],2024,13(3).
APA	Obuobi-Donkor, Gloria,Shalaby, Reham,Agyapong, Belinda,da Luz Dias, Raquel,&Agyapong, Vincent Israel Opoku.(2024).Mitigating Psychological Problems Associated with the 2023 Wildfires in Alberta and Nova Scotia: Six-Week Outcomes from the Text4Hope Program.JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE,13(3).
MLA	Obuobi-Donkor, Gloria,et al."Mitigating Psychological Problems Associated with the 2023 Wildfires in Alberta and Nova Scotia: Six-Week Outcomes from the Text4Hope Program".JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE 13.3(2024).