After the Fort McMurray wildfire there are significant increases in mental health symptoms in grade 7–12 students compared to controls ...

• Main Authors: Brown, Matthew R G, Agyapong, Vincent, Greenshaw, Andrew J, Cribben, Ivor, Brett-MacLean, Pamela, Drolet, Julie, McDonald-Harker, Caroline, Omeje, Joy, Mankowsi, Monica, Noble, Shannon, Kitching, Deborah, Silverstone, Peter H
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: University of Calgary 2019
• Subjects: Canada; Fort McMurray
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/prism/43971; https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/109438

Abstract Background In order to examine the impact of disasters on adolescent mental health, this study compared population mental health survey data from two communities in Alberta, Canada: Fort McMurray, which experienced a major natural disaster, and Red Deer, which did not. Methods Data from 3070 grade 7–12 students from Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada (collected in 2017, 18 months after the 2016 wildfire) was compared with data from 2796 grade 7–12 students from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada (collected in 2014). The same measurement scales were used for both surveys. Both of these cities have populations of approximately 100,000, and both cities are located in Alberta, Canada. For this reason, Red Deer is an appropriate non-disaster impacted community to compare to the disaster impacted community of Fort McMurray. Results The results of this comparison demonstrate that mental health symptoms were statistically significantly elevated in the Fort McMurray population when compared to the control population in ...