Posttraumatic Adaptation after the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: the Unique Role of Coping and Oil Contact on Community Members' Stress

摘要

Background: After the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) in the U.S. Gulf Coast community rose quickly. Objective: With the chronic course of PTSS a concern, the current research investigated the usefulness of assessing oil contact as a way to identify community members with clinical levels of PTSS. Secondly, the study looked at differences between persons with oil contact and with no contact on posttraumatic stress and coping styles, as well as the relation between coping styles on posttraumatic stress. Design: Using purposive sampling, community members (n = 213, 69.6 % women) from oil spill impacted areas were surveyed using the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian and the Brief COPE. Method: Community members were grouped by self-reported contact with oil (contact n = 63; no contact n = 150). Results: Individuals who had direct contact with the oil reported higher levels of PTSS, as well as greater use of avoidant and problem-focused coping styles. Avoidant emotion-focused coping was more strongly related to posttraumatic stress than other coping styles. In addition, an interaction was observed such that use of this coping style exacerbated the effect of oil contact on PTSS. Conclusions: Individuals coming into contact with the oil form a high risk group. Additionally, coping behaviors requiring avoidance may need to be re-directed in conjunction with removing barriers that hinder posttraumatic adaptation.