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The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities
BACKGROUND: Although public concern has focused on the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the public health impact on a broad range of coastal communities is minimally known. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the acute level of distress (depression, anxiety), mechanisms of adju...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
2011
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3114820/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21330230 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1002915 |
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author | Grattan, Lynn M. Roberts, Sparkle Mahan, William T. McLaughlin, Patrick K. Otwell, W. Steven Morris, J. Glenn |
author_facet | Grattan, Lynn M. Roberts, Sparkle Mahan, William T. McLaughlin, Patrick K. Otwell, W. Steven Morris, J. Glenn |
author_sort | Grattan, Lynn M. |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: Although public concern has focused on the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the public health impact on a broad range of coastal communities is minimally known. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the acute level of distress (depression, anxiety), mechanisms of adjustment (coping, resilience), and perceived risk in a community indirectly impacted by the oil spill and to identify the extent to which economic loss may explain these factors. METHODS: Using a community-based participatory model, we performed standardized assessments of psychological distress (mood, anxiety), coping, resilience, neurocognition, and perceived risk on residents of fishing communities who were indirectly impacted (n = 71, Franklin County, Florida) or directly exposed (n = 23, Baldwin County, Alabama) to coastal oil. We also compared findings for participants who reported income stability (n = 47) versus spill-related income loss (n = 47). RESULTS: We found no significant differences between community groups in terms of psychological distress, adjustment, neurocognition, or environmental worry. Residents of both communities displayed clinically significant depression and anxiety. Relative to those with stable incomes, participants with spill-related income loss had significantly worse scores on tension/anxiety, depression, fatigue, confusion, and total mood disturbance scales; had higher rates of depression; were less resilient; and were more likely to use behavioral disengagement as a coping strategy. CONCLUSIONS: Current estimates of human health impacts associated with the oil spill may underestimate the psychological impact in Gulf Coast communities that did not experience direct exposure to oil. Income loss after the spill may have a greater psychological health impact than the presence of oil on the immediately adjacent shoreline. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-3114820 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2011 |
publisher | National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-31148202011-06-16 The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities Grattan, Lynn M. Roberts, Sparkle Mahan, William T. McLaughlin, Patrick K. Otwell, W. Steven Morris, J. Glenn Environ Health Perspect Research BACKGROUND: Although public concern has focused on the environmental impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the public health impact on a broad range of coastal communities is minimally known. OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the acute level of distress (depression, anxiety), mechanisms of adjustment (coping, resilience), and perceived risk in a community indirectly impacted by the oil spill and to identify the extent to which economic loss may explain these factors. METHODS: Using a community-based participatory model, we performed standardized assessments of psychological distress (mood, anxiety), coping, resilience, neurocognition, and perceived risk on residents of fishing communities who were indirectly impacted (n = 71, Franklin County, Florida) or directly exposed (n = 23, Baldwin County, Alabama) to coastal oil. We also compared findings for participants who reported income stability (n = 47) versus spill-related income loss (n = 47). RESULTS: We found no significant differences between community groups in terms of psychological distress, adjustment, neurocognition, or environmental worry. Residents of both communities displayed clinically significant depression and anxiety. Relative to those with stable incomes, participants with spill-related income loss had significantly worse scores on tension/anxiety, depression, fatigue, confusion, and total mood disturbance scales; had higher rates of depression; were less resilient; and were more likely to use behavioral disengagement as a coping strategy. CONCLUSIONS: Current estimates of human health impacts associated with the oil spill may underestimate the psychological impact in Gulf Coast communities that did not experience direct exposure to oil. Income loss after the spill may have a greater psychological health impact than the presence of oil on the immediately adjacent shoreline. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences 2011-06 2011-02-17 /pmc/articles/PMC3114820/ /pubmed/21330230 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1002915 Text en http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/ Publication of EHP lies in the public domain and is therefore without copyright. All text from EHP may be reprinted freely. Use of materials published in EHP should be acknowledged (for example, ?Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives?); pertinent reference information should be provided for the article from which the material was reproduced. Articles from EHP, especially the News section, may contain photographs or illustrations copyrighted by other commercial organizations or individuals that may not be used without obtaining prior approval from the holder of the copyright. |
spellingShingle | Research Grattan, Lynn M. Roberts, Sparkle Mahan, William T. McLaughlin, Patrick K. Otwell, W. Steven Morris, J. Glenn The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities |
title | The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities |
title_full | The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities |
title_fullStr | The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities |
title_full_unstemmed | The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities |
title_short | The Early Psychological Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on Florida and Alabama Communities |
title_sort | early psychological impacts of the deepwater horizon oil spill on florida and alabama communities |
topic | Research |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3114820/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21330230 http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1002915 |
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