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University students’ experience of the Beirut port explosion: associations with subjective well-being and subjective symptoms of mental strain

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dc.contributor.author Bouclaous, Carmel
dc.contributor.author Fadlallah, Najat
dc.contributor.author El Helou, Mohamad Othman
dc.contributor.author Dadaczynski, Kevin
dc.date.accessioned 2024-05-24T12:33:11Z
dc.date.available 2024-05-24T12:33:11Z
dc.date.copyright 2023 en_US
dc.date.issued 2022-11-02
dc.identifier.issn 0963-8237 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10725/15616
dc.description.abstract Background On 4 August 2020, an explosion shook Beirut, killing more than 200 people and leaving thousands injured or homeless. Aims This study examined mental health of university students through a cross-sectional online survey between December 2020 and January 2021. Methods The questionnaire consisted of the WHO-5, sense of coherence (SoC), future anxiety, self-developed subjective symptoms of mental strain (SSMS), and items assessing proximity to explosion, extent of injury and house damage. Gender, study level and social status were used as sociodemographic characteristics. Results Of 1042 participants, 30.8% were at 0–7 km from explosion; 38.1% reported physical injuries; and 12.4% saw their home damaged. Two third (60.3%) reported ≥3 SSMS, and 73.4% reported low well-being. Students with low well-being were more often female and master students (p < 0.001). Females were more often affected by ≥3 SSMS (p < 0.001). Regression analysis with low well-being as dependent variable revealed significant associations with study level (OR: 2.30–2.94), future anxiety (OR: 2.72–4.34) and SoC (OR: 1.81–5.61). For ≥3 SSMS, females (OR: 3.09), moderate/very close distance (OR: 2.13–4.98), injury/death of family member or friend (OR: 2.07–2.06), house damage (OR: 1.72) future anxiety (OR: 1.97–3.11) and SoC (1.79–2.88) were significant predictors. Discussion Preventive mental health strategies that strengthen SoC and outlook on future could protect against SSMS and low well-being following major trauma. en_US
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.title University students’ experience of the Beirut port explosion: associations with subjective well-being and subjective symptoms of mental strain en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.description.version Published en_US
dc.author.school SOM en_US
dc.author.idnumber 201505343 en_US
dc.author.department N/A en_US
dc.relation.journal Journal of Mental Health en_US
dc.journal.volume 32 en_US
dc.journal.issue 3 en_US
dc.article.pages 602-611 en_US
dc.keywords Collective trauma en_US
dc.keywords Beirut port explosion en_US
dc.keywords Mental health en_US
dc.keywords Sense of coherence en_US
dc.keywords Future anxiety en_US
dc.keywords Young adults en_US
dc.keywords Mental strain en_US
dc.keywords Wellbeing en_US
dc.identifier.doi https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2022.2140785 en_US
dc.identifier.ctation Bouclaous, C., Fadlallah, N., El Helou, M. O., & Dadaczynski, K. (2023). University students’ experience of the Beirut port explosion: associations with subjective well-being and subjective symptoms of mental strain. Journal of Mental Health, 32(3), 602-611. en_US
dc.author.email carmel.bouclaous@lau.edu.lb en_US
dc.identifier.tou http://libraries.lau.edu.lb/research/laur/terms-of-use/articles.php en_US
dc.identifier.url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09638237.2022.2140785 en_US
dc.orcid.id https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3832-0806 en_US
dc.author.affiliation Lebanese American University en_US


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