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Disasters have the potential to disrupt and overwhelm individuals, families and entire communities.1 Natural disasters such as major earthquakes have been shown to have substantial adverse psychological effects across a range of different cultures.2-7
Youth have been identified as being vulnerable to psychological symptoms following disasters.8 Following Hurricane Katrina at New Orleans, USA, displaced university students were found to have greater levels of distress and psychological symptoms than non-displaced students.9 It is unclear how medical students who continued studying and working in Christchurch, New Zealand, following the major earthquakes may have been affected in terms of their psychological functioning.
In 2010 and 2011, the region of Canterbury, New Zealand was struck by a series of powerful earthquakes and aftershocks. The first earthquake (September 2010) measured 7.110 on the Richter scale,11 and resulted in minimal physical damage to buildings and infrastructure. The second major earthquake (February 2011) measured 6.310 on the Richter scale,11 but was situated close to Christchurch city. Despite its relatively moderate magnitude, this earthquake generated amongst the highest peak ground accelerations ever recorded10 and had devastating effects. It resulted in significant loss of life and multiple injuries,12 and widespread damage to property and infrastructure. This was followed by a further 6.3 magnitude earthquake in June 2011,10 which resulted in more damage but no loss of life. In addition, there were more than 10,000 aftershocks over the years 2010-2011.10
These earthquakes directly affected the medical students in Christchurch as the main medical school building which housed lecture theatres, the library, tutorial rooms, computing facilities and the common room was closed following the February 2011 earthquake. Further disruption may also have resulted from increased demands on teaching staff due to disruption to their work places, changed clinical demands and damage to their own homes.
The present study aimed to describe the impact of these earthquakes on the psychological functioning of medical students in Christchurch, and to identify predictors of adverse psychological functioning.
Method
Participants and survey administration
All 253 medical students (registered from November 2010) from the Christchurch campus (University of Otago) were emailed inviting them to participate in an electronic survey asking them about their experiences relating to the earthquakes. One student had transferred from Christchurch to another campus over the period of interest.