Support, opinion of support and psychological health among survivors of a natural disaster

Background: Although formal intervention after disasters is recommended, the evidence base for this is weak. Satisfaction with support after disasters is seldom investigated and the relation to psychological symptoms is unknown. Aims: To investigate whether dissatisfaction with social and formalized support are associated with post-disaster psychological symptoms. Methods: A total of 1,505 Swedish survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami responded to a questionnaire 14 months after the disaster, including the General Health Questionnaire-12, the Impact of Events Scale – Revised, the Crisis Support Scale, and questions concerning the reception and appraisal of social and formalized support from health care, psychological services and insurance agencies. Disaster exposure and background factors were controlled for in the analyses. Results: Reception of formalized support, but not social support, was associated with both psychological distress and post-traumatic stress. Dissatisfaction with social but not formalized support, with the exception of support from insurance agencies, was associated with psychological distress. Conclusions: Social support and formalized support should be differentiated in future studies in order to improve preventive intervention efforts after disasters. The reporting of dissatisfaction with social support merits special attention, since this may indicate increased risk for psychological symptoms.