Gulf Research Program Awards Nearly $5M to Understand Risk Factors Contributing to Climate-Induced Mental Health Impacts

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Gulf Research Program Awards Nearly $5M to Understand Risk Factors Contributing to Climate-Induced Mental Health Impacts

News Release| October 3, 2024

WASHINGTON - The Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine announced today awards totaling $4.9 million to fund five research projects that seek to identify risk factors associated with climate-induced mental health impacts in Gulf Coast communities.

Climate-related mental health is an emerging field of research that examines the impact of climate change and climate-related stressors on mental health and well-being. The effects of climate stressors, such as more frequent and intense extreme weather events, flooding, and extreme heat, have been associated with mental health impacts in individuals and communities exposed to these hazards.

"The Gulf Coast is one of the most susceptible regions in the United States to the effects of climate change, but there is not a strong understanding of how living with these more frequent and intense climate hazards is affecting the mental health of Gulf Coast communities," said Daniel Burger, program director of GRP's Gulf Health and Resilience Board. "The projects supported through this funding opportunity will provide important insights into mental health risk factors among Gulf community members and support the development of intervention strategies to protect and strengthen community health and resilience."

The awarded projects are:

Climate-Induced Mental Health Impacts Among Migrant Farmworker Families in Florida: Implications for Mitigation, Adaptation, and Preparedness

Project Director: Miranda Dally, University of Colorado, Denver

Project Location: Florida (six communities in Citrus, Collier, Hernando, Miami-Dade, and Sumter counties)

Award:$999,920

Project Summary: At least 15% of the estimated 3 million farmworkers in the U.S. migrate for agricultural work seasonally. Many such migrant farmworkers are in Texas and Florida. For migrant farmworker families, climate-change-induced hazards (e.g., increasing temperatures, storms and associated flooding) are resulting in severe negative economic and social impacts, including fewer opportunities related to diminishing crop yields. Mental health impacts of climate-related challenges on families may include psychological distress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, and risk of self-harm. Furthermore, impacts on income earners and caregivers can have detrimental effects on the mental health and well-being of other family members and the overall functioning of families. Women will be the primary informants for the research, providing a rich source of information about the mental health impacts of climate change on themselves, other family members, and the family system. Additionally, this research will examine the relationship between mental health, climate anxiety, and climate mitigation, adaptation, and preparedness, informing interventions to support the millions of migrant farmworkers and their families in the U.S. and globally.

Assessing Mental Health Disparities in At-Risk Youth After Climate Disasters in Louisiana
Project Director: Margaret Sugg, Appalachian State University
Project Location: Louisiana
Award:$999,770
Project Summary: Despite the frequency of climate disasters in the Gulf Coast region, little is known about the real-time mental health response in youth. Prior research has highlighted the promise of mobile crisis counseling services in measuring and monitoring youth mental health risks before and after climate events such as hurricanes, wildfires, winter weather, and high temperatures. This project will add to this research by examining the causal link between exposure to extreme weather and increased mental health vulnerability in at-risk youth in Louisiana; quantifying the impact of climate disasters on youth mental health; and identifying vulnerable subgroups in need of additional crisis support. This project based on community participation will form a strong partnership with VIA LINK, a Louisiana-based nonprofit crisis counseling organization, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention chapters in Louisiana and Mississippi, and a mental health-climate research team at Appalachian State University and North Carolina State University.

Climate-Induced Exposures and Mental Health: Assessing Multilevel Impact and Identifying Vulnerable Communities

Project Director: Md Mostafijur Rahman, Tulane University
Project Location: Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida

Award:$999,590

Project Summary: Despite high vulnerability to the effects of climate change, the Gulf Coast region lacks a comprehensive study addressing the mental health impacts of climate-induced extreme environmental exposures. To address this gap, this project will implement a large-scale epidemiological investigation across five Gulf states, focusing on Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, who represent the most socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. The project will assess the independent and cumulative mental health impacts of multiple climate-induced environmental exposures, including heat, air pollution, and power outages. Additionally, the project will assess whether adaptive factors, such as access to green space and air conditioning, mitigate the effects, and how maladaptive factors, such as proximity to petrochemical facilities and individual, neighborhood, social, and climatological vulnerability, amplify these effects.

Understanding Protective Factors for the Mental Health & Suicide Consequences of Gulf Climate-Related Disasters

Project Director: Hannah Rochford, Texas A&M University School of Public Health

Project Location: Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Urban Institute

Award:$943,165

Project Summary: The climate-related disaster (CRD) mental health burden is generally well documented and calls for investment in efforts to mitigate adverse mental health outcomes and inequities. This project will identify equitably protective factors and work with Gulf community partners to translate these into policy and adaptive actions. The project will be informed by in-depth interviews with professionals central to CRD response and/or at unique risk for severe CRD consequences. These include first responders and health care workers, natural resource industry professionals, and school leadership in Gulf communities exposed to CRDs. Secondary data will be used to understand the variation of CRD burdens, adverse mental health and suicide outcomes across identities, and the prevalence of potentially protective factors in the Gulf states from 2005-2022. The impact of potentially protective factors on the mental health and suicide outcomes in Gulf communities will then be estimated using quasi-experimental designs and community-level data. Stratifying models by various community attributes will allow findings to be tailorable to diverse Gulf community needs.

Climate Threats and Mental Health: A Prospective, Longitudinal, Representative Study of Gulf Coast Residents

Project Director: Dana Rose Garfin, University of California, Los Angeles

Project Location: Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana

Award:$1,000,000

Project Summary: This project will examine relationships between climate-change-related disaster exposure (e.g., hurricanes, flooding, heat waves, tornadoes) and mental health outcomes (e.g., post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety) using a mixed-method, prospective, longitudinal study of a representative sample of 1,900 Gulf Coast residents. All participants will complete three waves of epidemiological survey data between 2024-2025; 50 participants will also complete in-depth qualitative interviews focusing on lived experience with climate change and related disasters. Psychological responses specific to climate change (e.g., climate-change-related anxiety and worry) and individual-level adversity (e.g., abuse, illness) will also be evaluated. Individual- and collective-level factors supporting resilience (e.g., social support, adaptation, mitigation) will be tested as potential moderators that buffer the effects of disaster exposure on mental health over time.

The National Academies' Gulf Research Program is an independent, science-based program founded in 2013 as part of legal settlements with the companies involved in the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. It seeks to enhance offshore energy system safety and protect human health and the environment by catalyzing advances in science, practice, and capacity to generate long-term benefits for the Gulf of Mexico region and the nation. The program has $500 million for use over 30 years to fund grants, fellowships, and other activities in the areas of research and development, education and training, and monitoring and synthesis.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are private, nonprofit institutions that provide independent, objective analysis and advice to the nation to solve complex problems and inform public policy decisions related to science, engineering, and medicine. They operate under an 1863 congressional charter to the National Academy of Sciences, signed by President Lincoln.

Contact:

Pete Nelson, Director of Public Engagement and Communications
Gulf Research Program
Email [email protected]