One Year after the Flood: Prevalence and Correlates of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder among Residents in Fort McMurray

• Published in: Behavioral sciences Vol. 12; no. 3; p. 69
• Main Authors: Mao, Wanying, Eboreime, Ejemai, Shalaby, Reham, Nkire, Nnamdi, Agyapong, Belinda, Pazderka, Hannah, Obuobi-Donkor, Gloria, Adu, Medard, Owusu, Ernest, Oluwasina, Folajinmi, Zhang, Yanbo, Agyapong, Vincent I O
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 02.03.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Anxiety; Confidence intervals; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Disasters; flood; Floods; Mental health; natural disaster; Pandemics; Population; Post traumatic stress disorder; PTSD; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Risk factors; support; trauma; Variables; Alberta Canada; Canada; PTSD; trauma; natural disaster; mental health; Fort McMurray; support; flood
• ISSN: 2076-328X; 2076-328X
• DOI: 10.3390/bs12030069

The 2020 Fort McMurray (FMM) and area flood caused more than $228 million in insured damage, affected over 1200 structures, and more than 13,000 people were evacuated. This study sought to determine the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms and the risk predictors among the population of FMM one year after the 2020 flooding. An online quantitative cross-sectional survey was distributed to residents of FMM via REDCap between 24 April to 2 June 2021 to collect sociodemographic, clinical, and flood-related information. The PTSD checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-C) was used to assess likely PTSD among respondents. 186 of 249 respondents completed all essential self-assessment questionnaires in the analysis, yielding a response rate of 74.7%. The prevalence of likely PTSD was 39.6% (65). Respondents with a history of depression were more likely to develop PTSD symptoms (OR = 5.71; 95% CI: 1.68-19.36). Similarly, responders with limited and no family support after the disaster were more prone to report PTSD symptoms ((OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.02-8.05) and (OR = 2.87; 95% CI: 1.06-7.74), respectively). Our research indicated that history of depression and the need for mental health counseling significantly increased the risk of developing PTSD symptoms following flooding; family support is protective. Further studies are needed to explore the relations between the need to receive counseling and presenting with likely PTSD symptoms.