Impacts of Wildfires on School Children: A Case Study of Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada. Issue 2 (August 2015)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- Impacts of Wildfires on School Children: A Case Study of Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada. Issue 2 (August 2015)
- Main Title:
- Impacts of Wildfires on School Children: A Case Study of Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada
- Authors:
- Townshend, Ivan
Awosoga, Olu
Kulig, Judith
Botey, Anna Pujadas
Shepard, Blythe
McFarlane, Bonita - Abstract:
- Wildfires are becoming increasingly common, but there is limited understanding of their effects on children. This article reports on a study of wildfire impacts on children in a Canadian community. Self-reported measures of posttraumatic stress and coping and behavioral difficulties were obtained from a school-based survey of children in grades three to 12 carried out six months (T1) and 12 months (T2) after the fires. Students completed two screening instruments: the University of California at Los Angeles Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Reaction Index for Children and Adolescents – DSM-IV-TR, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, and provided information about demographic details and loss of their home. Paired data (n = 140) revealed that a substantial number of children met certain PTSD criteria symptoms at T1 but the number declined by T2. Differences in symptoms by age, gender, and house loss were examined. Age and house loss were important differentiators of impact, but these waned through time, and house loss was not a defining trait of those most at risk of severe psychopathology. Future research examining children's responses to a variety of disasters would add to our knowledge about stress reactions while determining whether there are commonalities in responses across types of disasters.
- Is Part Of:
- International journal of mass emergencies & disasters. Volume 33:Issue 2(2015)
- Journal:
- International journal of mass emergencies & disasters
- Issue:
- Volume 33:Issue 2(2015)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 33, Issue 2 (2015)
- Year:
- 2015
- Volume:
- 33
- Issue:
- 2
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2015-0033-0002-0000
- Page Start:
- 148
- Page End:
- 187
- Publication Date:
- 2015-08
- Subjects:
- Wildfire -- Children -- Post Traumatic Stress Disorder -- Strengths and Difficulties
- Journal URLs:
- https://journals.sagepub.com/home/MED ↗
- DOI:
- 10.1177/028072701503300202 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 0280-7270
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store
- Ingest File:
- 24824.xml