e-space
Manchester Metropolitan University's Research Repository

    Trajectories of distress and recovery, secondary stressors and social cure processes in people who used the resilience hub after the Manchester Arena bombing

    Stancombe, John ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5880-6697, Williams, Richard ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1230-0222, Drury, John ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7748-5128, Hussey, Louise, Gittins, Matthew, Barrett, Alan, French, Paul ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4300-387X and Chitsabesan, Prathiba (2023) Trajectories of distress and recovery, secondary stressors and social cure processes in people who used the resilience hub after the Manchester Arena bombing. BJPsych Open, 9 (5). e143. ISSN 2056-4724

    [img]
    Preview
    Published Version
    Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

    Download (455kB) | Preview

    Abstract

    Background: Terrorist incidents lead to a range of mental health outcomes for people affected, sometimes extending years after the event. Secondary stressors can exacerbate them, and social support can provide mitigation and aid recovery. There is a need to better understand distress and mitigating factors among survivors of the Manchester Arena attack in 2017. Aims: We explored three questions. First, what experiences of distress did participants report? Second, how might secondary stressors have influenced participants' psychosocial recoveries? Third, what part has social support played in the relationships between distress and participants' recovery trajectories? Method We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of a convenience sample of survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing (N = 84) in January 2021 (3 years 8 months post-incident), and a longitudinal study of the same participants' scores on mental health measures over 3 years from September 2017. Results: Survivors' mental well-being scores in early 2021 were significantly lower than general population norms. Longitudinal follow-up provided evidence of enduring distress. Secondary stressors, specifically disruptions to close relationships, were associated with greater post-event distress and slower recovery. We found an indirect relationship between identifying with, and receiving support from, others present at the event and mental well-being >3 years later. Conclusions: The Arena attack has had an enduring impact on mental health, even in survivors who had a mild response to the event. The quality of close relationships is pivotal to long-term outcome. Constructive support from family and friends, and people with shared experiences, are key to social cure processes that facilitate coping and recovery.

    Impact and Reach

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    72Downloads
    6 month trend
    50Hits

    Additional statistics for this dataset are available via IRStats2.

    Altmetric

    Repository staff only

    Edit record Edit record