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Introduction: In July 2013, a train derailment caused the death of 47 people and destroyed the downtown area in the city of Lac-Mégantic (Quebec, Canada). This tragedy had several impacts on this small community. Method: Three years after this disaster, we used a representative population-based survey conducted among 800 adults (including 265 seniors aged 65 or above) to assess the physical and mental health of seniors. Results: Several differences were observed in seniors’ physical and mental health based on their level of exposure to the tragedy. Nearly half of seniors highly exposed to the train derailment (41.7%) believe that their health has deteriorated in the past 3 years. The majority of seniors highly exposed to the train derailment (68.7%) also show symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorders. Seniors highly or moderately exposed to the tragedy were also more likely to have found positive changes in their personal and social life as compared with nonexposed seniors. Discussion: A technological disaster such as a train derailment still had negative impacts on seniors’ physical and mental health 3 years later. Conclusion: Public health authorities must tailor prevention and promotion programs to restore health and well-being in this population.

Plus aucune communauté n’est à l’abri des catastrophes naturelles et technologiques et de plus en plus les intervenants du domaine du social sont appelés à intervenir lors de ces situations. Malheureusement, plusieurs d’entre eux interviennent pendant et après une catastrophe sans avoir reçu une formation de base sur l’intervention en situation de crise macrosociale. Pourtant, ce type d’intervention exige des habiletés de base qui doivent s’acquérir à la fois dans les maisons d’enseignement et lors de formations continues. De plus, en cas de désastre naturels ou technologiques, certains groupes d’individus, dont les personnes âgées, sont plus vulnérables que d’autres parce qu’elles n’ont pas facilement accès aux ressources de la communauté. Par exemple, plusieurs personnes âgées, surtout celles présentant des incapacités physiques ou cognitives et celles à faible revenu n’ont, en général, pas de voitures à leur disponibilité, ce qui peut nuire à leur évacuation lors d’inondations, de tremblements de terre ou d’ouragans. De plus, plusieurs aînés habitent dans de vieux logements moins bien construits pour faire face à des chocs de toutes sortes. Les personnes âgées et particulièrement celles présentant des incapacités physiques ou cognitives, celles à faibles revenus ou sans réseau de soutien social font parties des groupes à risque de subir des blessures, de mourir ou de développer des problèmes de santé post-désastre. Le décès d’un nombre important de personnes âgées pendant l’ouragan Katrina et la vague de chaleur de l’été 2003 en Europe, a malheureusement démontré que plusieurs communautés sont très mal préparées à protéger et secourir, en cas de catastrophe, les aînés et plus particulièrement les personnes âgées vulnérables. De plus, plusieurs études ont fait ressortir qu’à la suite d’un désastre, les personnes âgées reçoivent proportionnellement moins d’aide que les personnes plus jeunes (Fernandez et al 2002), soit parce qu’elles ne sont pas priorisées par les autorités locales ou parce qu’elles-mêmes hésitent à informer leurs proches et les organismes publics ou communautaires de leurs besoins de soutien. Tout individu, quel que soit son âge a un important besoin de soutien social pendant et après un désastre afin d’atténuer les effets du stress et surmonter les obstacles qui se présenteront. On pense par exemple à l’interruption des services essentiels comme l’eau potable ou l’électricité, la lourdeur démocratique, l’endettement, les négociations avec des entrepreneurs quelque peu malhonnêtes, etc. À ce sujet, plusieurs chercheurs considèrent les désastres comme une suite d’événements stressants pouvant occasionner de nombreuses difficultés aux individus (Murphy, 1986). Cette communication permettra de présenter les résultats de nos études effectuées sur les conséquences des désastres sur la santé physique et psychologique des aînés ainsi que sur divers aspects de leur vie (vie personnelle, conjugale, familiale et sociale). En explicitant les sentiments et les difficultés que ces personnes éprouvent lors de catastrophes, les intervenants du domaine du social seront alors mieux outiller pour intervenir auprès de ce groupe cible. Cette communication a donc pour but de présenter les principaux faits saillants et les recommandations de la recension des écrits scientifiques que nous avons dernièrement complété et des faits saillants des diverses études que nous avons réalisées jusqu’à maintenant auprès des personnes âgées à la suite de deux types de désastres : inondation et tempête de verglas. Cette communication a pour but de sensibiliser les participants à l’importance de tenir compte, pour les intervenants du social, des spécificités des aînés lors de l’application des mesures d’urgence et lors de la période de rétablissement des communautés.

<sec><title>Background</title><p>Youth are increasingly aware of the negative effects of climate change on the planet and human health, but this knowledge can often come with significant affective responses, such as psychological distress, anger, or despair. Experiencing major “negative” emotions, like worry, guilt, and hopelessness in anticipation of climate change has been identified with the term eco-anxiety. Emerging literature focuses on adults' experience; however, little is known about the ways in which children and youth experience eco-anxiety.</p></sec><sec><title>Objectives</title><p>The aim of this review was to: (1) identify the available evidence on the topic of eco-anxiety in children, (2) clarify the mental health consequences brought by the awareness of climate change in this population, and (3) identify knowledge gaps in the literature and considerations for future research.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>Given that the research on the topic of eco-anxiety in children is limited, that there are very few randomized controlled trials, and that the goal is not to analyze individual studies in-depth, a scoping review was used. Keywords pertaining to the themes of eco-anxiety, climate change and children (aged &lt; 18 years) were used as search terms in five databases. Journal articles using qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as gray literature were examined by two independent reviewers. A descriptive-analytical method was used to chart the data that emerged from the literature. Eighteen articles were considered in the final analysis.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Evidence confirms that children experience affective responses and eco-anxiety in reaction to then awareness of climate change. Mental health outcomes include depression, anxiety, and extreme emotions like sadness, anger, and fear. Youth from vulnerable communities, like indigenous communities, or those who have strong ties to the land are often identified as being emotionally impacted by climate change. The literature analyzed also describes how children and youth are coping with eco-anxiety, including maladaptive (e.g., denial) and adaptive responses (such as constructive hope, used as a positive coping mechanism). Preliminary considerations for parents, teachers and educators, mental health care providers, school systems, adults and people of power include adding age-appropriate climate education to the school curriculum, considering youth's emotions, and promoting healthy coping through empowerment. Important gaps exist in the definition of eco-anxiety in youth, as various characterizations of this emerging concept are found across articles.</p></sec>

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic and associated restrictive measures have caused important disruptions in economies and labour markets, changed the way we work and socialise, forced schools to close and healthcare and social services to reorganise. This unprecedented crisis forces individuals to make considerable efforts to adapt and will have psychological and social consequences, mainly on vulnerable individuals, that will remain once the pandemic is contained and will most likely exacerbate existing social and gender health inequalities. This crisis also puts a toll on the capacity of our healthcare and social services structures to provide timely and adequate care. The MAVIPAN (Ma vie et la pandémie/ My Life and the Pandemic) study aims to document how individuals, families, healthcare workers and health organisations are affected by the pandemic and how they adapt. Methods and analysis MAVIPAN is a 5-year longitudinal prospective cohort study launched in April 2020 across the province of Quebec (Canada). Quantitative data will be collected through online questionnaires (4–6 times/year) according to the evolution of the pandemic. Qualitative data will be collected with individual and group interviews and will seek to deepen our understanding of coping strategies. Analysis will be conducted under a mixed-method umbrella, with both sequential and simultaneous analyses of quantitative and qualitative data. Ethics and dissemination MAVIPAN aims to support the healthcare and social services system response by providing high-quality, real-time information needed to identify those who are most affected by the pandemic and by guiding public health authorities’ decision making regarding intervention and resource allocation to mitigate these impacts. MAVIPAN was approved by the Ethics Committees of the Primary Care and Population Health Research Sector of CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale (Committee of record) and of the additional participating institutions. Trial registration number NCT04575571.

Abstract. While disaster studies researchers usually view risk as a function of hazard, exposure, and vulnerability, few studies have systematically examined the relationships among the various physical and socioeconomic determinants underlying disasters, and fewer have done so through seismic risk analysis. In the context of the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake in Taiwan, this study constructs three statistical models to test different determinants that affect disaster fatality at the village level, including seismic hazard, exposure of population and fragile buildings, and demographic and socioeconomic vulnerability. The Poisson regression model is used to estimate the impact of these factors on fatalities. Research results indicate that although all of the determinants have an impact on seismic fatality, some indicators of vulnerability, such as gender ratio, percentages of young and aged population, income and its standard deviation, are the important determinants deteriorating seismic risk. These findings have strong social implications for policy interventions to mitigate such disasters.

Résumé La modification des habitudes de vie pour adopter des comportements sains repose notamment sur la capacité des individus et des populations à estimer les conséquences à long terme des gestes accomplis aujourd’hui. Cette capacité peut cependant varier d’une personne à l’autre, notamment en raison des perspectives temporelles (PT) adoptées. Les PT réfèrent à la tendance d’une personne ou d’un groupe de personnes à orienter ses décisions en fonction d’une vision tournée vers le passé, le présent ou le futur. Cet article vise à démystifier le concept de PT et à comprendre leur construit, afin d’identifier différentes façons d’en tenir compte dans les interventions en promotion de la santé. L’influence des PT sur la santé est principalement liée à leur capacité d’agir sur la motivation des personnes à adopter et à maintenir certains comportements. Une attention particulière doit être portée aux personnes et aux populations dont les PT sont orientées vers le présent. Elles présenteraient un plus grand risque d’adopter des comportements délétères et seraient susceptibles d’être moins sensibles aux messages qui visent la modification de ces comportements que les personnes qui adoptent une PT orientée vers le futur. En ce qui concerne leur construit, les PT sont le fruit de différentes dynamiques psychologiques et des facteurs individuels (âge, sexe, état de santé) et environnementaux (milieu familial, statut socioéconomique, éducation, culture). Parmi les moyens présentés pour tenir compte des PT dans les interventions en promotion de la santé figurent la mise en valeur des avantages à court terme d’un changement de comportement qui vise des bénéfices à long terme pour la santé, la modulation de l’intensité du soutien à l’empowerment des communautés en fonction des PT adoptées et la permutation d’une PT orientée vers le présent vers une PT orientée vers le futur.

Abstract. Large-scale socioeconomic studies of the impacts of floods are difficult and costly for countries such as Canada and the United States due to the large number of rivers and size of watersheds. Such studies are however very important for analyzing spatial patterns and temporal trends to inform large-scale flood risk management decisions and policies. In this paper, we present different flood occurrence and impact models based upon statistical and machine learning methods of over 31 000 watersheds spread across Canada and the US. The models can be quickly calibrated and thereby easily run predictions over thousands of scenarios in a matter of minutes. As applications of the models, we present the geographical distribution of the modelled average annual number of people displaced due to flooding in Canada and the US, as well as various scenario analyses. We find for example that an increase of 10 % in average precipitation yields an increase in the displaced population of 18 % in Canada and 14 % in the US. The model can therefore be used by a broad range of end users ranging from climate scientists to economists who seek to translate climate and socioeconomic scenarios into flood probabilities and impacts measured in terms of the displaced population.

Nous en connaissons peu sur la pratique d’intervention de groupe en région, ce qui ouvre un champ de questions qui dépassent de loin la simple description des conditions de travail en intervention. Ce travail souhaite valoriser et rendre « visible » la pratique d’intervention de groupe des professionnelles issues du travail social, dans un contexte québécois, et plus spécifiquement dans un environnement de région ressource, environnement qui pose des défis et des enjeux importants reliés à ce mode d’intervention. À travers une recherche qualitative et un processus de théorisation ancrée, ce mode d’intervention a été exploré auprès de 10 intervenantes. Les principaux résultats nous permettent d’identifier les spécificités régionales de l’intervention de groupe, telles qu’une pratique destinée fondamentalement aux femmes avec des approches choisies pour l’intervention, la confidentialité et la protection de la vie privée des participantes du groupe, le manque de transport en commun, et une pratique de groupe plus présente dans le milieu communautaire. , We know little about the practice of group intervention in remote areas, which leads to an array of questions that go far beyond the mere description of working conditions in this context of practice. This article aims to acknowledge and increase visibility of social work with groups in Quebec, most specifically in remote regions where mostly female social work professionals practice this type of intervention, an environment that poses important challenges related to this type of practice. Through qualitative research and a process of grounded theorizing, this type of intervention was explored using feedback from 10 female participants (social workers). The main results highlight regional specificities, such as a practice fundamentally aimed at women, confidentiality and privacy of group participants, the lack of public transportation, and a group practice more present in the community setting

Abstract Background Climate change (CC) adaptation is considered a priority for Caribbean Small Islands Developing States (SIDS), as these territories and communities are considered particularly vulnerable to climate-related events. The primary health care (PHC) system is an important actor in contributing to climate change adaptation. However, knowledge on how PHC is prepared for CC in Caribbean SIDS is very limited. The objective of this paper is to discuss health adaptation to climate change focusing on the PHC system. Methods We explored the perspectives of PHC professionals in Dominica on climate change. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in each of the seven health districts in Dominica, a Caribbean SIDS, between November 2021 and January 2022. The semi-structured interview guide was based on the Essential Public Health Functions: assessment, access to health care services, policy development and resource allocation. Data coding was organized accordingly. Results Findings suggest that health care providers perceive climate change as contributing to an increase in NCDs and mental health problems. Climate-related events create barriers to care and exacerbate the chronic deficiencies within the health system, especially in the absence of high-level policy support. Healthcare providers need to take a holistic view of health and act accordingly in terms of disease prevention and health promotion, epidemiological surveillance, and ensuring the widest possible access to health care, with a particular focus on the ecological and social determinants of vulnerability. Conclusion The Primary Health Care system should be a key actor in designing and operationalizing adaptation and transformative resilience. The Essential Public Health Functions should integrate social and climate and ecological determinants of health to guide primary care activities to protect the health of communities. This indicates a need for improved research on the linkages between climate events and health outcomes, surveillance, and development of plans that are guided by contextual knowledge in the SIDS.

Plusieurs chercheur.euse.s s’intéressent à la question des conséquences des désastres sur les enfants et les adolescent.e.s. La majorité des études effectuées sont quantitatives et se concentrent sur les symptômes anxieux, dépressifs et post-traumatiques que développent ces jeunes. Peu d’études qualitatives se préoccupent des effets plus systémiques que provoquent ces catastrophes, tels que les conséquences d’une relocalisation dans un nouveau quartier ou les difficultés familiales et la violence envers les enfants qui peuvent s’ensuivre. De plus, peu d’études proposent des pistes d’intervention en travail social. L’objectif principal de cet article vise donc à fournir une recension des écrits récente, francophone et systémique au sujet des conséquences vécues par les jeunes d’âge mineur à la suite d’un désastre. Cela afin de soutenir les intervenant.e.s en travail social en regroupant dans un même article quelques pistes d’intervention individuelle, familiale, de groupe et collective. , Many researchers have focused on the influence of disasters exposure on children and teenagers. Most of the research performed are quantitative studies that center predominantly on posttraumatic stress, depression, and anxiety symptoms developed by youth. Few qualitative research take an interest in a more holistic picture of the impacts of disasters, such as the relocation in new communities or challenged interpersonal family dynamics, which can lead to violence against children. Moreover, few articles discuss implications for social work. The main objective of this article is to offer a recent and francophone literature review with an ecological approach about the impacts of disasters exposure on children and teenagers. Furthermore, to better equip social workers, promising avenues of individual, family focused, group and community-based interventions are discussed.

The article describes a quantitative cross-sectional study of a sample of 674 university students enrolled in social work programmes in four countries: Belgium, Canada, Chile and Switzerland. The study aimed to assess HIV/AIDS knowledge and attitudes among participants. The median HIV-KQ-18 score for the sample was 14.0, which Carey and Schroder classify as indicating borderline low levels of knowledge. Based on the results, the authors argue that social work education and training programmes should more comprehensively address HIV/AIDS within their curricula to better equip future social workers to challenge stigmatising and exclusionary practices rooted in long-standing lack of knowledge and erroneous beliefs about the disease.