War and disaster in Sri Lanka: Depression, family adjustment and health among women heading households.
BACKGROUND
The civil war, lasting from 1983 to 2009, and the tsunami that struck Southeastern Asia in 2004 were major stressors that changed the demographic landscape of the northern province of Sri Lanka. The composition of families changed dramatically, with an increase in female-headed households, largely due to casualties. The conservation of resources (COR) model was applied in this study to examine relationships between risk and resiliency factors among women heading households, including women widowed by war or disaster.


OBJECTIVE
This study represents an investigation of the association between predictive risk and resiliency factors (i.e. war damage and loss, social support, economic status, religious participation and discrimination) and outcomes representing well-being (depressive symptoms, family adjustment and a rating of physical health).


METHODS
Data from 514 women heading households living in the Kilinochchi district of Sri Lanka were collected through face-to-face interviews in 2013, and associations among the data were estimated using path analysis.


RESULTS
Results suggest that resiliency factors that are representative of greater resources generally predicted lower levels of distress and vice versa.


CONCLUSIONS
Further study informing intervention development with women heading households in Sri Lanka is warranted to better understand which individual, family and community resources are most important to mobilize for sustainable recovery efforts to be successful in the decades following war and natural disaster.
Alliant International University, San Diego, CA, USA abanford@alliant.edu.
Alyssa
A
Banford Witting
California State University, Stanislaus, Turlock, CA, USA.
Jessica
J
Lambert
Kaatsu International University, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Thulitha
T
Wickrama
National Human Resources Development Council of Sri Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Sivaguru
S
Thanigaseelan
Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, OK, USA.
Michael
M
Merten
D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology*; D004190:Disasters; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012044:Regression Analysis; D055500:Resilience, Psychological; D012923:Social Class; D012944:Social Support; D013188:Sri Lanka; D014857:Warfare; D016387:Women's Health
War; depression; family; health; natural disaster; women