Mental health of people involved in natural disasters from the perspective of the workers involved

Abstract

The phenomenon of disaster causes serious impacts to the population that is directly or indirectly involved. This study aimed to understand the psychosocial attention to people in disaster situation in the municipality of Blumenau, from the perspective of the workers involved. This is a qualitative, descriptive exploratory research, conducted in the context of a municipality with recurrent natural disasters that mark the history of the population. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with health, civil defense and fire brigade workers, selected by the Snowball technique. Data were analyzed by the content analysis method. As a result we describe three units of analysis: Unexpected event with unprepared population; Increase in the number of people in psychological distress and aggravation of cases already under treatment; Current strategies of the municipality, discussing the concepts of crisis, trauma and disruptive syndrome as effects on mental health in disasters. It is concluded that psychosocial attention in the disaster situation needs to go beyond, should be more active in prevention, during and after disaster, ensuring integral care to all people involved.