TY  - JOUR
PY  - 1989//
TI  - Disaster severity and emotional disturbance: implications for primary mental health care in developing countries
JO  - Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica
A1  - Lima, B. R.
A1  - Chavez, H.
A1  - Samaniego, N.
A1  - Pompei, M. S.
A1  - Pai, S.
A1  - Santacruz, H.
A1  - Lozano, J.
SP  - 74
EP  - 82
VL  - 79
IS  - 1
N2  - Two months following the 1987 earthquakes in Ecuador, 150 patients in the primary health care clinics of the area were screened for emotional problems; 40% of them were emotionally distressed. Risk factors included not being married, reporting poor physical or emotional health, and having ill-defined physical complaints. The findings from this research are discussed in relation to a disaster of much greater intensity, whose victims were studied by the authors, utilizing the same instrument and research design. The comparison between these 2 groups of disaster victims revealed that: 1) the prevalence of emotional distress was smaller among the Ecuador victims, but the frequency of symptoms among the distressed was similar for both groups; 2) the symptom profiles were remarkably similar; and 3) the most frequent symptoms and the strongest predictors of emotional distress were very similar. These findings support a focused training of health care workers on selected emotional problems that are regularly present among victims of different disasters.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0001-690X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/
ID  - ref1
ER  -