Abstract
The 2016 Alberta wildfire, the largest insured natural disaster in Canada, led to a mass evacuation of residents of Fort McMurray, a small city in northern Alberta. The wildfire resulted in significant damages to housing and community infrastructure. The entire community was displaced for several weeks. Post-disaster, community members experienced individual and collective trauma, and other negative mental health impacts in response to the significant losses and grief they endured. Spirituality has been found to be a major protective factor in facilitating resiliency and recovery following the experience of disaster. Nonetheless, little focus has been directed toward how spirituality can strengthen and empower community capacity and growth during post-disaster recovery. Our study explored various meanings and concerns, along with tools and strategies that helped to nurture spiritual resilience and well-being among residents of Fort McMurray following the Alberta wildfire. Data were collected through interviews and focus group discussions with community influencers working to support long-term recovery efforts in the city. Participants identified a number of spiritual resources such as a strong sense of belonging, a shared positive outlook, faith and hope, compassion, and sense of gratitude, which contributed to increased resilience and positive health and well-being and helped them to support families and communities in the post disaster recovery period. Our findings indicate that spiritual values and beliefs can play a significant role in building resilience and promoting individual and communal healing and recovery post-disaster. These findings have important implications for post-disaster recovery strategies, as they highlight the need to ensure supports for interventions and initiatives that strengthen a collective sense of identity and social cohesion, informed by communal norms and beliefs, including programs and resources which support opportunities for reflexivity to foster shared healing and ongoing recovery processes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 682558 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Public Health |
| Volume | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Jul 23 2021 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The funding was received from Collaborative Research Grant from Canadian Institute of Health Research, Canadian Red Cross and Alberta Innovates Heath Solutions. The grant # is 201600546. The goal of this collaborative funding was to provide timely assessment of health effects and/or interventions to mitigate the harms and impacts of the Alberta wildfire and evacuation and build on Canada’s emerging expertise in disaster medicine and health. Funds for open access publication in the journal will be used from these sources.
Funding Information:
Funding. The funding was received from Collaborative Research Grant from Canadian Institute of Health Research, Canadian Red Cross and Alberta Innovates Heath Solutions. The grant # is 201600546. The goal of this collaborative funding was to provide timely assessment of health effects and/or interventions to mitigate the harms and impacts of the Alberta wildfire and evacuation and build on Canada's emerging expertise in disaster medicine and health. Funds for open access publication in the journal will be used from these sources.
Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright © 2021 Lalani, Drolet, McDonald-Harker, Brown, Brett-MacLean, Agyapong, Greenshaw and Silverstone.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
