Abstract
Aims
The study sought to investigate the lived experiences regarding the health, well-being and quality of life of persons experiencing displacement due to an industrial disaster in Trinidad.
Study and methods
The study used qualitative design using focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. The study explored the experiences of two tiers of participants: first, participants were drawn from people who experienced the disaster themselves and second from the health care providers who provided intervention for persons affected by the disaster. Purposive sampling was used to select a list of participants from these two groups of participants, and data were collected over a 3-week period following the oil spill.
Results
Residents experienced the disaster as a life-threatening tragedy. The immediate effects of the disaster were felt as many people complained of respiratory problems. Diets were also affected since people were not allowed to use gas and electric stoves or flammable materials. The groups most vulnerable to sickness were the elderly and children. The medical officers revealed that they were unprepared for dealing with a disaster such as was caused by the environmental pollution.
Conclusions
The authors suggest that community-level health workers in industrial disaster situations should focus on building community social capital and train first respondents and health workers to become alert to possible health challenges such as delayed or postponed health routines and the emergence of psychological and mental health issues.
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Abbreviations
- GDP:
-
Gross domestic product
- PAH:
-
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons
- QOL:
-
Quality of life
- VOC:
-
Volatile organic compounds
- WHO:
-
World Health Organisation
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Acknowledgments
The authors gratefully acknowledge the generosity of those respondents who participated in interviews for this study.
Authors’ contributions section
Emmanuel Janagan Johnson contributed the Introduction and the Definitions of quality of life, Setting the Context, Human development and quality of Life in Trinidad, and Methodology and procedure and conclusion.
Cheryl Ann Boodram contributed the Demographics of participants and played a major role in collecting data from the respondents. Bothe Emmanuel Janagan Johnson and Cheryl Ann Boodram wrote the analysis and discussion together.
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Johnson, E.J., Boodram, CA.S. Health, well-being and quality of life of community members displaced after an industrial disaster in Trinidad. J Public Health 25, 69–74 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-016-0759-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-016-0759-y