Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based data
Background Knowledge on efficient approaches to the provision of post-disaster psychosocial care is urgently needed. To prevent unmet healthcare needs, proactive follow-up by municipal contact persons was recommended for survivors of the Utøya youth camp attack in Norway. Aims To examine characteri...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2025-03-01
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| Series: | BJPsych Open |
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| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S205647242400838X/type/journal_article |
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| author | Lise Eilin Stene Kristin Alve Glad Synne Øien Stensland Lisa Govasli Nilsen Grete Dyb |
| author_facet | Lise Eilin Stene Kristin Alve Glad Synne Øien Stensland Lisa Govasli Nilsen Grete Dyb |
| author_sort | Lise Eilin Stene |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background
Knowledge on efficient approaches to the provision of post-disaster psychosocial care is urgently needed. To prevent unmet healthcare needs, proactive follow-up by municipal contact persons was recommended for survivors of the Utøya youth camp attack in Norway.
Aims
To examine characteristics of the survivors by whether or not they had a contact person in the early (0–5 months), intermediary (5–15 months) and long-term (20–32 months) aftermath of the attack, and to describe the survivors’ experiences with the contact person.
Method
We analysed data from three waves of interviews with survivors conducted 4–5, 14–15 and 30–32 months after the attack, as well as register-based data on the use of mental health services from 3 years before until 3 years after the attack.
Results
Survivors with a contact person early post-attack were less likely to receive care from mental health services concurrently or to have anxiety/depression symptoms subsequently compared with survivors without a contact person in the same period. Survivors with a contact person in the intermediary aftermath were more satisfied with the overall help they received, but also more likely to have long-term anxiety/depression symptoms. Survivors with a contact person in the long term were more likely to be financially disadvantaged. Approximately half of the survivors with a contact person found this highly or very highly useful, whereas one-third found it of little use or not at all useful.
Conclusions
The proactive outreach reached survivors across sociodemographic characteristics during the recommended first year of follow-up, which could be conducive to prevention of unmet healthcare needs. Still, there was considerable variation in the perceived usefulness and duration of the follow-up.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f7df0ed88f654229904c68a8eef2a4e3 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2056-4724 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BJPsych Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-f7df0ed88f654229904c68a8eef2a4e32025-08-20T02:04:39ZengCambridge University PressBJPsych Open2056-47242025-03-011110.1192/bjo.2024.838Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based dataLise Eilin Stene0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3950-8293Kristin Alve Glad1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9965-8595Synne Øien Stensland2Lisa Govasli Nilsen3Grete Dyb4Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, NKVTS, Oslo, NorwayNorwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, NKVTS, Oslo, NorwayNorwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, NKVTS, Oslo, NorwayNorwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, NKVTS, Oslo, NorwayNorwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies, NKVTS, Oslo, NorwayBackground Knowledge on efficient approaches to the provision of post-disaster psychosocial care is urgently needed. To prevent unmet healthcare needs, proactive follow-up by municipal contact persons was recommended for survivors of the Utøya youth camp attack in Norway. Aims To examine characteristics of the survivors by whether or not they had a contact person in the early (0–5 months), intermediary (5–15 months) and long-term (20–32 months) aftermath of the attack, and to describe the survivors’ experiences with the contact person. Method We analysed data from three waves of interviews with survivors conducted 4–5, 14–15 and 30–32 months after the attack, as well as register-based data on the use of mental health services from 3 years before until 3 years after the attack. Results Survivors with a contact person early post-attack were less likely to receive care from mental health services concurrently or to have anxiety/depression symptoms subsequently compared with survivors without a contact person in the same period. Survivors with a contact person in the intermediary aftermath were more satisfied with the overall help they received, but also more likely to have long-term anxiety/depression symptoms. Survivors with a contact person in the long term were more likely to be financially disadvantaged. Approximately half of the survivors with a contact person found this highly or very highly useful, whereas one-third found it of little use or not at all useful. Conclusions The proactive outreach reached survivors across sociodemographic characteristics during the recommended first year of follow-up, which could be conducive to prevention of unmet healthcare needs. Still, there was considerable variation in the perceived usefulness and duration of the follow-up. https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S205647242400838X/type/journal_articlePsychosocial interventionstrauma- and stressor-related disordersprimary caremental health servicespatients |
| spellingShingle | Lise Eilin Stene Kristin Alve Glad Synne Øien Stensland Lisa Govasli Nilsen Grete Dyb Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based data BJPsych Open Psychosocial interventions trauma- and stressor-related disorders primary care mental health services patients |
| title | Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based data |
| title_full | Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based data |
| title_fullStr | Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based data |
| title_short | Proactive psychosocial follow-up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack: longitudinal study linking interviews and register-based data |
| title_sort | proactive psychosocial follow up of youth exposed to a terrorist attack longitudinal study linking interviews and register based data |
| topic | Psychosocial interventions trauma- and stressor-related disorders primary care mental health services patients |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S205647242400838X/type/journal_article |
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