Impact of the 2012 Iran's northwest earthquake on mental health of child survivors and its relation with the parents’ cognition

Abstract

Introduction: Earthquake has been the most devastating natural disaster throughout the human history. Post traumatic mental and health problems in children may reach the epidemic stage and stay for a long time. On the other hand, parental caregiving have a significant effect on children's mental health because it regulates the majority of child-environment interactions and helps to shape children's adaptation. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the impact of Iran's northwest earthquake on mental health of child survivors and its relation with the parents’ cognition of the event has been designed. Methods and Materials: This research is a cross - sectional study conducted in two stages. In the first stage, Stratified Sampling randomly selected 150 students between third and sixth grade from elementary schools in Varzaqan, Northwestern Iran. The adopted approach for collecting data was based on standard questionnaires obtained from a systematic review of the literature as well as through interviews. In the second stage, students’ parents, who were 300 individuals, were included in the study and they completed the researcher’s questionnaire in a self-report manner. For data analysis, software SPSS version 21 was used. Results: The findings showed that the mean score of mental disorders among female students (55.92) more than male students (50.41), respectively. A significant association between children mental disorders and father’ cognition (P<0.001) and Mother’ cognition (P=0.001) was observed. Conclusion: Parents’ cognition from the earthquake can have considerable effect in children's mental health. Therefore, developing educational intervention programs to increase parents’ cognition regarding disasters could be one of the most effective actions in relation to disasters.