Differences in anxiety, insomnia, and trauma symptoms in wildfire survivors from australia, canada, and the United States of America
- Authors: Isaac, Fadia , Toukhsati, Samia , Klein, Britt , Di Benedetto, Mirella , Kennedy, Gerard
- Date: 2024
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 21, no. 1 (2024), p.
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- Description: Many survivors of wildfires report elevated levels of psychological distress following the trauma of wildfires. However, there is only limited research on the effects of wildfires on mental health. This study examined differences in anxiety, depression, insomnia, sleep quality, nightmares, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms following wildfires in Australia, Canada, and the United States of America (USA). One hundred and twenty-six participants from Australia, Canada, and the USA completed an online survey. The sample included 102 (81%) women, 23 (18.3%) men, and one non-binary (0.8%) individual. Participants were aged between 20 and 92 years (M age = 52 years, SD = 14.4). They completed a demographic questionnaire, the Disturbing Dream and Nightmare Severity Index (DDNSI), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire (GAD-7), the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and PTSD Checklist (PCL-5). Results showed that participants from the USA scored significantly higher on the GAD-7 (p = 0.009), ISI (p = 0.003), and PCL-5 (p = 0.021) than participants from Australia and Canada. The current findings suggest a need for more international collaboration to reduce the severity of mental health conditions in Australia, Canada, and the USA. © 2023 by the authors.
Cognitive behavioral therapy-based treatments for insomnia and nightmares in adults with trauma symptoms : a systematic review
- Authors: Isaac, Fadia , Toukhsati, Samia , DiBenedetto, Mirella , Kennedy, Gerard
- Date: 2023
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Current Psychology Vol. 42, no. 27 (2023), p. 23495-23505
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A systemic review of the impact of wildfires on sleep disturbances
- Authors: Isaac, Fadia , Toukhsati, Samia , Benedetto, Mirella , Kennedy, Gerard
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Vol. 18, no. 19 (2021), p.
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- Description: Wildfires present a serious risk to humans as well as to the environment. Wildfires cause loss of lives, economic losses, expose people to personal as well as collective trauma, and compro-mise the mental health of survivors. Sleep disturbances are highly prevalent following a traumatic event; however, their prevalence is not well established amongst those confronted by natural disasters such as wildfires. The aim of this systematic review is to synthesise the empirical findings per-taining to wildfires and the prevalence of sleep disturbances in the general community affected by this natural disaster. We searched EBSCO, PsychINFO, Medline, SpringerLink, CINAHL Complete, EMBASE, PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Library between January 2012 and March 2021. Five studies met the inclusion criteria. Findings from this systematic review suggest that sleep disturbances, assessed one to ten months following the fires, are highly prevalent in wildfire survivors, with insomnia (ranging between 63–72.5%) and nightmares (ranging between 33.3–46.5%), being the most prevalent sleep disturbances reported in this cohort. Results also highlight the significant associa-tions between sleep disturbances and post-traumatic symptoms following the trauma of wildfires. There is a possible link between sleep disturbance prevalence, severity of, and proximity to fires. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.