Publications by authors named "Caroline McDonald-Harker"
Article Synopsis
- Children and youth are particularly vulnerable to disasters but can also show remarkable resilience and drive change in their communities post-disaster.
- The study focused on 100 children aged 5 to 18 who experienced the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire, using both quantitative (CYRM-28 measure) and qualitative (interviews) methods to explore resilience factors.
- Findings indicated that higher-than-average resilience levels were related to strong caregiver support and peer relationships, highlighting the importance of social-ecological factors in helping young people recover from traumatic events.
The 2016 Alberta wildfire, the largest insured natural disaster in Canada, led to a mass evacuation of residents of Fort McMurray, a small city in northern Alberta. The wildfire resulted in significant damages to housing and community infrastructure. The entire community was displaced for several weeks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the wake of the massive Canadian wildfire of May 2016 in the area of Fort McMurray Alberta, we observed increased rates of mental health problems, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in school-aged adolescents (ages 11-19). Surprisingly, we did not see these rates decline over the 3.5-year follow-up period.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMental Health Symptoms Unexpectedly Increased in Students Aged 11-19 Years During the 3.5 Years After the 2016 Fort McMurray Wildfire: Findings From 9,376 Survey Responses.
Front Psychiatry
May 2021
In Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, the wildfire of May 2016 forced the population of 88,000 to rapidly evacuate in a traumatic and chaotic manner. Ten percentage of the homes in the city were destroyed, and many more structures were damaged. Since youth are particularly vulnerable to negative effects of natural disasters, we examined possible long-term psychological impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe May 2016 wildfire in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada forced evacuation of the population of 88,000 individuals and destroyed 10% of the homes. Youth are particularly impacted by disaster. Eighteen months after the wildfire, Fort McMurray Public and Catholic Schools surveyed 3,252 of the 4,407 students in Grades 7-12 to determine possible long-term psychological impacts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: 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.