Risk Factors for Suicidal Behaviours after Natural Disasters: A Systematic Review

Natural disasters have multiple psychological effects including increased risk of suicide among victims. Reviews have shown that suicidal behaviours can be an aftermath of natural disasters. The present study attempted to identify the suicide-related risk factors after natural disasters. This study was a systematic review probing English language articles related to suicide and its risk factors after natural disasters and published between 1 January 1990 and 27 September 2018 in Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, Scopus, ProQuest and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) databases. After reviewing and screening the collected studies by means of specific criteria, only 30 studies were qualified to enter the survey. It was found that most of these studies had investigated suicide after earthquake. Gender, age, serious mental disorders, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), loss of family members, low economic status, low social support, and injury to the person and the family/relatives were identified as the most important risk factors for suicide after natural disasters. Women, adolescents, elderly, people with depression and PTSD, those suffer from low social support and parentless people were found to be among the ones being highly vulnerable to suicide after natural disasters. There is, therefore, a need for providing psychosocial support for these people after such disasters.