Mental health outcomes of drought
Citation: Vins H, Bell J, Saha S, et al. The mental health outcomes of drought: a systematic review and causal process diagram. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2015;12(10):13251-75.
Language: Abstract and full text only available in EN.
Free to view: Yes.
Funding sources: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA.
What is this? Climate change is increasing the incidence of droughts, which may impact on mental health. Information on this will help policy makers and others to respond to these challenges.
In this systematic review, the authors searched for studies of the impact of droughts on mental health in order to develop a causal process diagram depicting the pathways linking drought and mental health outcomes. They restricted their searches to articles published in English and did the search in January 2015. They included 82 studies. The location was not specific for 7 of these studies; the others were from Australia (52 studies), Bolivia (2), Botswana (1), Brazil (1), Canada (6), Ethiopia (1), India (4), Iran (1), New Zealand (1), UK (1) and USA (7).
What was found: Drought affects mental health through various environmental and economic pathways.
These pathways include adverse impacts on individual and community economic activities, particularly for people whose livelihoods are influenced by weather conditions and water access. The agricultural sector is typically hit hardest, and farmers can experience declined production, crop loss and livestock failure, which can lead to financial constraints and unemployment, as well as issues associated with food availability and access.
Migration away from the drought prone area, often in search of better employment opportunities, is a related outcome.
Implications: The authors of the review concluded that their causal process diagram can be used in both practice and theory, including prevention planning, public health programming, vulnerability and risk assessment, and for guiding future research. They stated that use of a causal process diagram facilitates the integration of the findings of diverse research to further the understanding of the mental health implications of drought.
Other considerations: The authors of the review discussed their findings in the context of place of residence, occupation and socioeconomic status.
This summary was prepared by Joly Ghanawi and edited and finalized by Mike Clarke.