The Effect of Forced Migration on Mental Health in Elderly Individuals: A Struggle in the Shadow of Disasters

Abstract

Natural disasters are social crises that affect people together with their environment, which are unpredictable where and when they will occur worldwide. Natural disasters are a process that deeply affects people's lives, often necessitating relocation. Natural disasters affecting individuals from all age groups significantly affect elderly individuals, who are a vulnerable and fragile group due to physical limitations, chronic diseases and other age-related factors. Uncertainty and anxiety together with difficult experiences and change of location after the disaster is a traumatic process that especially affects elderly individuals. The fact that elderly individuals constitute the majority of the increasing population on a global scale and the increasing number of natural disasters today makes it a priority to address the mental health of elderly individuals and to carry out more studies on survival strategies. From this point of view, this review study aims to provide strategies for the protection, development and rehabilitation of the mental health of elderly individuals by focusing on the mental health problems and coping methods of elderly individuals who try to establish a new life by having to relocate due to natural disasters and natural disasters. Pre-disaster preparation and post-disaster intervention programs should be prepared specifically for elderly individuals and should be structured taking into account cultural/geographical differences.