Risk and protective factors for bushfire resilience and recovery — ASN Events
  1. Schedule
  2. Supporting Community Resilience
  3. Risk and protective factors for bushfire resilience and recovery

Risk and protective factors for bushfire resilience and recovery (#12)

Lisa Gibbs 1 , Elizabeth Waters 1 , Hugh Colin Gallagher 2 , Karen Block 1 , Elyse Snowdon 1 , Louise Harms 3 , Richard Bryant 4 , Dean Lusher 5 , David Forbes 6 , Greg Ireton 1 , John Richardson 7 , Colin MacDougall 8 , Vikki Sinnott 9 , Connie Kellett 3 , Philippa Pattison 10
  1. Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC
  2. Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Burwood, VIC
  3. School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC
  4. School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW
  5. Centre for Transformative Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC
  6. Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health, University of Melbourne, East Melbourne, VIC
  7. Emergency Services, Australian Red Cross, Carlton, VIC
  8. Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA
  9. Health and Human Services, Victorian State Government, Melbourne, VIC
  10. Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education), University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW

Building understanding of resilience risk and protective factors helps to guide the development and delivery of disaster response and recovery services. This presentation will report on the findings of the Beyond Bushfires study on the impacts of the Black Saturday disaster experience and what made a difference to individual mental health and wellbeing afterwards.

Beyond Bushfires is a five-year study led by University of Melbourne in partnership with a range of community, government, emergency, and service agencies. The study explores medium to long-term impacts of the Victorian 2009 bushfires on individuals and communities. The communities selected for this study had a range of bushfire experiences from low impact to high impact. Impacts on residents such as mental health, wellbeing and social connections were examined. Over 1,000 participants completed surveys in 2012 and were followed up in 2014. A sub-sample of 35 participants completed in-depth interviews.

The study results show the disaster experience can have a direct and prolonged impact on mental health and wellbeing, as can subsequent major life stressors such as changed accommodation, employment, health and relationships. Age, gender and living circumstances can influence how the disaster and its aftermath are experienced. Importantly, this means that household/family members often had different responses to their bushfire experience.

A particularly strong finding in terms of recovery was that social ties matter. Close emotional ties, social networks and involvement in local community groups and organisations all contribute to resilience and recovery. An overview of the findings will provide insights into the pattern of influences on resilience and recovery, and implications for future policy and service delivery.

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