Bibliometric Analysis of Mental Health Research in Populations Affected by Natural Disasters

Abstract

The number of climate-related disasters has tripled over the past 30 years, culminating in the last two periods during catastrophic climate disasters worldwide such as Cyclone Idai, deadly heat waves in India, Pakistan, and Europe; and floods in Southeast Asia. Because natural disasters can have severe consequences for affected people's mental health, this study aims to identify trends and patterns in scientific production related to the mental health of people affected by natural risks. Five hundred thirty-two relevant articles were initially identified from the Scopus database in February 2023. Based on descriptive results, the number of scientific publications increased steadily from 2019 to 2022, albeit slowly in recent years, with the main publication form being articles, followed by articles, abstracts, and book chapters, conference papers, editorials, memos, books, letters, and short surveys. Among the fields, medicine had the most articles, followed by social sciences, psychology, environmental sciences, earth and planetary sciences, engineering, nursing, computer sciences, arts and humanity, neurosciences, business, economics, energy, chemistry, biology, and health. Co-occurrence analysis of terms of titles and abstracts identified four themes: 1) impact of natural disasters on mental health and COVID-19 and risk management; 2) the effect of forest fires on the mental health of the affected population; 3) earthquakes and tsunamis affect the mental health of the affected population; and 4) resilience and social support in psychological adjustment during pregnancy. A longitudinal analysis based on titles and abstracts showed how the focus shifted from initial associations between natural disasters and the physical and mental health of survivors (in 2018) to the association between natural disasters and cardiovascular disease and traumatic experiences and postpartum depressive symptoms (at the beginning 2023). This study concludes by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of the findings and showing how an area of particular interest for future research is the study of community mental health resilience as an intervention strategy to mitigate the negative effects of natural disasters in disaster-affected communities.