Dataset Information

Postdisaster Changes in Social Capital and Mental Health: A Natural Experiment From the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.

ABSTRACT: Levels of social capital can change after a natural disaster; thus far, no study has examined how changes in social capital affect the mental health of disaster victims. In this study, we examined how predisaster social capital and its changes after a disaster were associated with the onset of mental disorders. In October 2013, we mailed a questionnaire to participants in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study living in Mifune, a town in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, and measured predisaster social capital. In April 2016, the Kumamoto earthquake struck the region. Three years after the baseline survey, postdisaster social capital and symptoms of mental disorders were measured using the Screening Questionnaire for Disaster Mental Health (n = 828). Multiple Poisson regression indicated that a 1-standard-deviation change in predisaster social cohesion at the community level reduced the risk of depression among women (relative risk = 0.44, 95% confidence interval: 0.24, 0.78); a decline in social capital after the disaster elevated the risk (relative risk = 2.44, 95% confidence interval: 1.33, 4.47). In contrast to social cohesion, high levels of social participation at the community level were positively associated with the risk of depression among women. Policy-makers should pay attention to sex differences and types of social capital when leveraging social capital for recovery from disasters.

SUBMITTER: Sato K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7443763 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Postdisaster Changes in Social Capital and Mental Health: A Natural Experiment From the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.

Sato Koryu K Amemiya Airi A Haseda Maho M Takagi Daisuke D Kanamori Mariko M Kondo Katsunori K Kondo Naoki N

American journal of epidemiology 20200901 9

Levels of social capital can change after a natural disaster; thus far, no study has examined how changes in social capital affect the mental health of disaster victims. In this study, we examined how predisaster social capital and its changes after a disaster were associated with the onset of mental disorders. In October 2013, we mailed a questionnaire to participants in the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study living in Mifune, a town in Kumamoto Prefecture, Japan, and measured predisaster so ...[more]

PMID: 32232321

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Project description:The Trieste Habitat Micro-area Programme (HMP), an innovative social-health service policy, has offered a natural experiment to empirically evaluate the social mechanisms through which social capital may have an impact on health inequalities. To date, literature clarifying this causal chain is scanty. This empirical study tested the following hypotheses: H1) innovative social-health practices can activate social mechanisms intentionally and systematically so as to generate social capital; H2) such social mechanisms increase specific properties of social capital, in particular those influencing more vulnerable individuals' relationships; H3) investing in these properties can enhance capabilities and, consequently, control over the health of more vulnerable individuals. The study was carried out during 2016-2018 and used both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative part investigated the field experience of the HMP through interviews, focus groups and workshops with HMP professionals. The quantitative part assessed the effect HMP might have on these properties and the capacity to face health risks of more vulnerable individuals. Three samples, each of 200 individuals, residing in the target and in control areas were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. One control sample was matched to the 200 treated subjects using a Propensity Score Matching. The results of the study suggest that the HMP intervention stimulated the development of empowerment, collaboration and interdependence among vulnerable people. This produced an increase in their social capital under several aspects, including enhanced trust, network extension and participation, cooperation and reciprocal help with neighbours, as well as improving their judgement on quality, timing and efficacy of the help received from institutions, relatives or friends. These findings show that socially shared relationships can create innovative local models of a universalistic generative welfare system, which would be both inclusive and able to enhance individual capabilities. These models could be disseminated and carried over to other contexts.

Dataset Information

Postdisaster Changes in Social Capital and Mental Health: A Natural Experiment From the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.

Publications

Postdisaster Changes in Social Capital and Mental Health: A Natural Experiment From the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake.

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