The impact of exposure to memorial reports on the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake on sleep quality among adult survivors ten years after the disaster: Evidence for nonlinear associations

Abstract

Introduction: Very few studies have explored the effect of exposure to disaster memorial reports in the media on long-term sleep quality during the recovery period and post-disaster era. This study investigated the relationship between exposure to memorial reports and adult survivors' long-term sleep quality 10 years after the 5.12 Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, and determined whether exposure to memorial reports are associated with poor sleep quality.

Method: Using a cross-sectional methodology, we surveyed participants (N = 1000) recruited from six disaster-affected counties. We measured sleep quality using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire (PSQI).

Results: After controlling for the effects of demographic factors, socioeconomic status, and earthquake exposure factors, exposure to memorial reports and the PSQI global score had a strong inverted U-shaped relationship. Relationships among three sub-scores of PSQI (subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, daytime dysfunction) were also found to have similar relationships with memorial report exposure. That is, survivors who were exposed to low or high degrees of memorial reports had better sleep quality than those who were exposed to intermediate memorial reports.

Discussion: The curvilinear relationship between media exposure and sleep quality in the post-disaster era reveals that media exposure could be used to identify victims at risk of poor sleep quality. Clinicians and practitioners may consider adopting psychological intervention programs to enhance victims' psychological controllability to overcome mental disorders caused by media exposure.

Keywords: Media exposure; Memorial reports; PSQI; Sichuan/Wenchuan; Sleep quality.