Living through a volcanic eruption: Understanding the experience of survivors as a phenomenological existential phenomenon

After the fire: An ecological, phenomenological exploration of resilience-building following the Fuego volcanic eruption in Guatemala

Combining ecological resilience theory with a phenomenological epistemology, we explored experiential, social, and cultural factors mediating resilience-building with participants from a village destroyed by the 2018 Fuego volcanic eruption in Guatemala. The purpose of the study is to find out what strategies displaced families and communities employ for living through the aftermath of a volcano eruption and for building psychological resilience. We conducted semistructured interviews with nine survivors of the Fuego eruption, now relocated and coping with the loss of community and family members killed in the disaster. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used to analyze transcripts. The analysis produced four main themes: (i) individual and collective challenges, (ii) social support and protection, (iii) faith and culturally endorsed belief, and (iv) looking to the future. As well as learning more about how a community faced challenges presented by a volcano eruption, the current study has a degree of transferability, with implications for understanding how other communities experience and cope with such events.

Understanding solastalgia from a decolonised, Indigenist lens: a scoping review

The objective of this review is to use a decolonised, Indigenist lens to understand the definition of solastalgia from an Aboriginal perspective, as a potential emotional response experienced by Aboriginal communities impacted by increasingly frequent natural disasters, such as bushfires. Initial search results revealed a lack of literature referencing solastalgia in an Aboriginal-specific context. Indigenist research methodologies such as Heuristic inquiry and Aboriginal Participatory Action Research (APAR) contributed to the identification of alternative terminologies, which led to the majority of the included publications referring to solastalgia-related concepts, with one included publication mentioning solastalgia specifically. These methods were consequently used to synthesize data, confirm results and contribute to final discussions. Lastly, our results determined that at this stage there is insufficient evidence to conclusively suggest that Aboriginal Peoples in a general sense, experience solastalgia. Acknowledging the ethical dilemma and potential harm of generalising personal philosophies and experiences based on Culture. Thereby, signify the need for further research in this space and in particular, from a decolonised, Indigenist perspective.

Preface

In the context of this review, we as co-authors are mindful of and respect the tensions or politics associated with proclaiming or discussing the identities of Australia's First Peoples. Therefore, in the context of this review, the often preferred term Aboriginal refers to the traditional owners of Australia. Where possible, traditional place/tribe names are written to acknowledge the ownership and origins of the information referenced within this review. Furthermore, we wish to acknowledge the storeys and traditional knowledge shared by the authors of the studies referenced within this review. These words of Country and Kin have contributed to the development and conceptualisation of this literature review, and we wish to pay our respects and appreciation.

Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support in Indonesian adolescent disaster survivors: A psychometric evaluation

BACKGROUND

Social support plays an important role in adolescents' mental health and well-being, and even more so for disaster survivors. To measure the level of social support, one needs an appropriate tool to produce valid and reliable results; therefore, we aimed to measure the invariance across gender groups, and analyze the construct validity and reliability of the Indonesian version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), a social support measurement tool which was theoretically constructed and has been well validated in many countries with various cultures and backgrounds.

METHODS

A school-based assessment was conducted in junior and senior high schools in a post-disaster setting in Yogyakarta Province, Indonesia. We analyzed 299 adolescent survivors of a volcanic eruption, aged 12~18 years who completed a 12-item Indonesian version of the MSPSS.

RESULTS

The factorial validity confirmed the three-factor structure of the scale (Family, Friends, and Significant Others) which met all of the criteria of parameter indices and provided evidence of high internal consistency reliability. The three-level measurement of invariance, which consisted of configural, metric, and scalar invariance, also performed very well across gender groups with our data and corresponded to the recommended parameters. Our composite reliability values were all fine (>0.7) and indicated that the items in the same construct were strongly correlated and reliable.

CONCLUSIONS

The Indonesian version of the MSPSS was shown to be a valid, reliable, theoretically constructed, and applicable instrument for adolescent disaster survivors.