Psychological symptoms and quality of life among the population of L’Aquila’s “new towns” after the 2009 earthquake

Background: On April 6th, 2009 the city of L’Aquila was hit by an earthquake which caused more than 65,000 people to lose their homes. In order to provide rapid accommodation to those affected, the Italian Government implemented the CASE project (Complex Anti-seismic Sustainable Environmentally-friendly), consisting in the construction of 19 “New Towns” on the outskirts of the city. The new towns were built in rural areas, far from the city center, and lacked many basic services. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of mental disorders, psychological symptoms and quality of life in a sample of the population affected by this situation. Methods: Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R), and the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life (MANSA), were applied to the inhabitants of three new towns. Results: 107 people were interviewed. The mean scores of the GSI of the BSI were 0.70 (SD=0.55). The total score of the IES-R scale was used and the cut-off point, represented by the value equivalent to 33, was exceeded by 59.81% of the sample. The average value was 38.04 (SD=19.22). Fourteen people (21.88%) obtained an average value of ≥ 60. The mean score on the MANSA was 4.5 (SD=0.98), with differences in response among the inhabitants of the three new towns considered. Conclusion: Data obtained shown some differences between the three new towns studied. These could be a starting point from which to conduct a further analysis, with the aim of finding features in the various new towns which correlate positively and negatively with the quality of life, in order to facilitate future policy-makers, and showing them the best options to improve quality of life for citizens involved in natural disasters.