Abstract
Background: Flooding is an increasingly prevalent natural hazard worldwide and can have a profound impact on the mental health of those directly and indirectly affected. Little is known about the impact on business owners, who may be particularly vulnerable to the mental health complications of flooding given the additional economic stressors. Methods: A large cross-sectional survey was conducted six months after severe flooding in the rural Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia in 2017. The survey assessed demographics, probable depression (using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2), flood exposure, flood-related financial factors, prior flood exposure and support from various organisations. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of probable depression in 653 of the 745 participants who identified as business owners. Results: The prevalence of probable depression in our sample was 17.0%. A quarter (25.1%) of business owners whose business was flooded suffered from probable depression, compared to 12.4% of non-flooded business owners. The multivariable model for probable depression demonstrated elevated adjusted odds ratios (AOR) for business owners who had to evacuate their business (AOR = 2.11, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 1.25–3.57) compared to those who did not evacuate. Insurance disputes/rejections were a strong predictor for probable depression (AOR = 3.76, CI 1.86–7.60). Those whose income was reduced due to the flood and had not returned to normal six months post-flood demonstrated an increased AOR for probable depression (AOR 2.53, CI 1.26–5.07) compared to those whose income had returned to normal. The univariable analysis found elevated crude odds ratios (OR) for the cumulative effect of multiple flood exposures and unmet support needs by the state government (OR = 2.74, CI 1.12–6.68). The majority of business owners felt their needs were not met by most organisations providing flood-related support. Conclusion: The impact of flood exposure and flood-related financial factors on probable depression was highly significant for the business owner population. Furthermore, business owners felt under-supported by flood-related services. These findings highlight the vulnerability of exposed business owners and the need for increased support. Disaster planning programs in conjunction with system level changes such as infrastructure and education are vital for disaster preparedness.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 12 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology |
Volume | 15 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Open Access - Access Right Statement
© The Author(s). 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.Keywords
- depression_mental
- floods
- mental health
- social aspects