University students' experience of the Beirut port explosion: associations with subjective well-being and subjective symptoms of mental strain.
J Ment Health
; 32(3): 602-611, 2023 Jun.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36322513
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
On 4 August 2020, an explosion shook Beirut, killing more than 200 people and leaving thousands injured or homeless.AIMS:
This study examined mental health of university students through a cross-sectional online survey between December 2020 and January 2021.METHODS:
The questionnaire consisted of the WHO-5, sense of coherence (SoC), future anxiety, self-developed subjective symptoms of mental strain (SSMS), and items assessing proximity to explosion, extent of injury and house damage. Gender, study level and social status were used as sociodemographic characteristics.RESULTS:
Of 1042 participants, 30.8% were at 0-7 km from explosion; 38.1% reported physical injuries; and 12.4% saw their home damaged. Two third (60.3%) reported ≥3 SSMS, and 73.4% reported low well-being. Students with low well-being were more often female and master students (p < 0.001). Females were more often affected by ≥3 SSMS (p < 0.001). Regression analysis with low well-being as dependent variable revealed significant associations with study level (OR 2.30-2.94), future anxiety (OR 2.72-4.34) and SoC (OR 1.81-5.61). For ≥3 SSMS, females (OR 3.09), moderate/very close distance (OR 2.13-4.98), injury/death of family member or friend (OR 2.07-2.06), house damage (OR 1.72) future anxiety (OR 1.97-3.11) and SoC (1.79-2.88) were significant predictors.DISCUSSION:
Preventive mental health strategies that strengthen SoC and outlook on future could protect against SSMS and low well-being following major trauma.Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Mental Health
/
Explosions
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
Language:
En
Journal:
J Ment Health
Journal subject:
PSICOLOGIA
/
PSIQUIATRIA
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Lebanon
Publication country:
ENGLAND
/
ESCOCIA
/
GB
/
GREAT BRITAIN
/
INGLATERRA
/
REINO UNIDO
/
SCOTLAND
/
UK
/
UNITED KINGDOM