Positive Mental Health Three Years After East Azerbaijan Earthquake: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background:Positive mental health is one of the important health concepts, which generally evaluates people's emotional, psychological, and social well-being. The current study aimed at investigating positive mental health status in East Azerbaijan earthquake survivors. Materials and Methods:In this study, a sample of 600 rural adult survivors of East Azerbaijan earthquake were selected by multistage sampling method. Data were collected using positive mental health questionnaire and demographic checklists through face-to-face interview. To analyze data, different statistical tests, including t test were used.Results: Findings of the current study showed no significant difference between the mean scores of positive mental health and its social subscales in the studied villages. However, the mean scores of emotional well-being subscale in slightly damaged villages and mean scores of psychological well-being subscale in severely damaged villages were higher and significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion:Attention to long-term mental and social outcomes is the missing link of health studies in incidents and disasters, which must be considered to recover and enhance mental and social health of survivors of natural disasters at the earliest time after the incidents.