A Changing Home: A Cross-Sectional Study on Environmental Degradation, Resettlement and Psychological Distress in a Western German Coal-Mining Region
Krüger T, Kraus T, Kaifie A (2022)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2022
Journal
Book Volume: 19
Article Number: 7143
Journal Issue: 12
Abstract
Unwelcome environmental changes can lead to psychological distress, known as “solastalgia”. In Germany, the open-pit mining of brown coal results in environmental changes as well as in the resettlement of adjacent villages. In this study, we investigated the risk of open-pit mining for solastalgia and psychological disorders (e.g., depression, generalized anxiety and somatization) in local communities. The current residents and resettlers from two German open-pit mines were sur-veyed concerning environmental stressors, place attachment, impacts and mental health status. In total, 620 people responded, including 181 resettlers, 114 people from villages threatened by reset-tlement and 325 people from non-threatened villages near an open-pit mine. All groups self-re-ported high levels of psychological distress, approximately ranging between 2–7.5 times above the population average. Respondents from resettlement-threatened villages showed the worst mental health status, with 52.7% indicating at least moderate somatization levels (score sum > 9), compared to 28% among resettlers. We observed a mean PHQ depression score of 7.9 (SD 5.9) for people from resettlement-threatened villages, 7.4 (SD 6.0) for people from not-threatened villages, compared to 5.0 (SD 6.5) for already resettled people (p < 0.001). In conclusion, the degradation and loss of the home environment caused by open-pit mining was associated with an increased prevalence of de-pressive, anxious and somatoform symptoms in local communities. This reveals a need for further in-depth research, targeted psychosocial support and improved policy frameworks, in favor of res-idents’ and resettlers’ mental health.
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Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Krüger, T., Kraus, T., & Kaifie, A. (2022). A Changing Home: A Cross-Sectional Study on Environmental Degradation, Resettlement and Psychological Distress in a Western German Coal-Mining Region. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(12). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19127143
MLA:
Krüger, Theresa, Thomas Kraus, and Andrea Kaifie. "A Changing Home: A Cross-Sectional Study on Environmental Degradation, Resettlement and Psychological Distress in a Western German Coal-Mining Region." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19.12 (2022).
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