Housing Displacement, Employment Disruption, and Mental Health After the 2023 Maui Wildfires

What are the mental health consequences of wildfire exposure, housing displacement, and income disruption following the 2023 Maui wildfires?In this cross-sectional study of 2453 adults, residents within wildfire burn zones had a 53% higher risk of depression and 67% higher risk of anxiety compared with unexposed individuals, with suicidal ideation not significantly higher within burn zones but elevated among residents outside burn zones. Housing displacement and income loss jointly accounted for more than half of the associations with depression and anxiety.In this study, wildfire exposure and its socioeconomic aftermath were linked to widespread graded psychological harms, underscoring the need to incorporate mental health care, stable housing, and economic recovery into disaster response frameworks.

Corresponding Author: Ruben Juarez, PhD, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, 2424 Maile Way, Saunders 542, Honolulu, HI 96822 (rubenj@hawaii.edu).

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