TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2023//
TI  - Individual and community experiences of posttraumatic growth after disaster: 10 years after the Australian Black Saturday bushfires
JO  - Psychological trauma: theory, research, practice, and policy
A1  - Harms, Louise
A1  - Molyneaux, Robyn
A1  - Nguyen, Hanh
A1  - Pope, David
A1  - Block, Karen
A1  - Gallagher, H. Colin
A1  - Kavanagh, Shane A.
A1  - Quinn, Phoebe
A1  - O'Donnell, Meaghan
A1  - Gibbs, Lisa
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To understand longer-term posttraumatic growth (PTG) and how this is associated with individual and community bushfire experiences. <br><br>METHOD: Survey data (n = 391) from the Beyond Bushfires and the 10-year Beyond Bushfires studies were analyzed. Multilevel modeling examined relationships between basic individual demographics, bushfire exposure, and community-level variables at 3-4 years after the fires, and PTG at 10 years using the short form of the PTG Inventory. <br><br>RESULTS: Ten years after these Australian bushfires, being female, experiencing higher degrees of property loss, and stronger individual sense of community were the factors associated with PTG. Approximately 12% of the variance observed in PTG scores was attributable to differences in PTG across communities. Individuals from medium and high bushfire-affected communities reported significantly higher PTG relative to those in low bushfire-affected communities. While there was evidence of community differences in PTG, and individuals' own sense of community was positively and significantly associated with increased PTG, community-level cohesion scores were not found to be significantly related to PTG (although the trend was in the expected direction). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: PTG is evident in longer-term disaster recovery. While PTG appears to vary across communities, the findings suggest that it is an individual's own sense of community (rather than community-level cohesion) that is most closely related to this longer-term growth following a bushfire event. While PTG is currently understood as an outcome of individual-level perceptions, community-level experiences shape the potential for positive transformations to occur after disasters and warrant further investigation. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1942-9681
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0001500
ID  - ref1
ER  -