Association between social support and recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder after flood: a 13–14 year follow-up study in Hunan, China

Wenjie Dai,Atipatsa C Kaminga,Aizhong Liu,Yan Li,Long Chen,Hongzhuan Tan,Jieru Wang,Zhiwei Lai

doi:10.1186/s12889-016-2871-x

Abstract

BackgroundPost-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.MethodsVictims 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.ResultsOut 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).ConclusionsThe 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.

Highlights

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent long-term psychiatric disorders among survivors of traumatic events
Sample description A total of 1025 victims were diagnosed as having PTSD in Yueyang, Lingxiang, Huarong, Ziyang and Anxiang in 2000
346 victims were available for this follow-up assessment of PTSD, representing 33.76 % (346/1025) of the total group

Summary

Introduction

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the most prevalent long-term psychiatric disorders among survivors of traumatic events. 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, 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. A severe flood that struck the Yangzi River of China in 1998 affected over 180 million people. According to the New Report from Ministry of Health of China in 1999, the flood displaced 18.393 million people, destroyed 6.85 million houses, caused 4,150 deaths and yielded a direct economic loss of about $32 billion. Hundreds of thousands of residents were homeless and many infrastructural and agricultural projects were damaged, leaving survivors with some psychological problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

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