Posttraumatic Stress Among School Students Following the 2014 Hazelwood Mine Fire

Figures & data

Table 1. Participation rates for the CRIES survey presented by school location and school level.

	Morwell schools		Non-Morwell schools		All schools
School level	Eligible Students N	Participating students n (%)	Eligible Students N	Participating students n (%)	Eligible Students N	Participating students n (%)
Primary	336	105 (31.3)	578	98 (17.0)	914	203 (22.2)
Secondary	167	21 (12.6)	1,057	99 (9.4)	1,224	120 (9.8)
Total	503	126 (25.0)	1,635	197 (12.0)	2,138	323 (15.1)

Figure 1. Distribution of students’ CRIES total scores: Comparisons by school level and school location.

Table 2. CRIES outcomes: Comparisons of students by school location.

	Morwell	Non-Morwell
	Weighted mean* (SE)	Weighted mean* (SE)	Adj mean diff^^¥ (95% CI)	p-value
All students	N = 126	N = 197
Intrusion	6.20 (0.99)	4.10 (0.58)	0.86 (−0.24, 1.96)	.119
Avoidance	7.18 (1.41)	5.05 (0.95)	0.26 (−1.07, 1.59)	.682
Arousal	8.25 (0.45)	5.54 (0.56)	1.94 (0.47, 3.40)	.013
CRIES Total	21.63 (2.53)	14.70 (1.92)	3.05 (0.49, 5.62)	.022
Primary school students	N = 105	N = 98
Intrusion	7.25 (0.42)	6.21 (0.50)	1.09 (−0.20, 2.38)	.092
Avoidance	8.83 (0.57)	8.39 (0.74)	0.53 (−1.30, 2.37)	.548
Arousal	8.47 (0.58)	7.18 (0.63)	1.29 (−0.44, 3.01)	.134
CRIES Total	24.55 (0.95)	21.78 (1.44)	2.91 (−0.50, 6.32)	.090
Secondary school studentsϮ	N = 21	N = 99
Intrusion	3.07 (<0.01)	2.59 (0.29)	0.28 (−0.46, 1.03)	.433
Avoidance	2.35 (<0.01)	2.66 (0.40)	−0.39 (−0.88, 0.10)	.108
Arousal	7.63 (0.12)	4.37 (0.65)	2.50 (1.48, 3.51)	<.001
CRIES Total	13.05 (0.12)	9.62 (1.12)	2.39 (1.41, 3.36)	<.001

*All weighted figures account for school clustering, stratification based on school-type, and were weighted according to enrollments by year-level, gender, and school-type.

^ Adjusted for age, gender, and school-type.

¥Crude differences between weighted means are not provided as this information is potentially misleading due to unbalanced proportions of primary and secondary students between Morwell and Non-Morwell schools; this issue is primarily because of there being only one secondary school in Morwell. The adjusted mean differences compensate for these unbalanced proportions and, accordingly, are more accurate indicators of between-group differences.

^Ϯ the SE < .01 for weighted mean here is because there is only one Morwell secondary school

Table 3. CRIES outcomes: Comparison of students by school level.

	Primary school students	Secondary school students
	Weighted mean* (95% CI)	Weighted mean* (95% CI)
	N = 203	N = 120	Adj mean diff^ (95% CI)	p-value
Intrusion	6.74 (5.94, 7.54)	2.69 (2.19, 3.19)	−1.66 (−4.64, 1.32)	.257
Avoidance	8.61 (7.57, 9.65)	2.60 (1.92, 3.28)	−2.57 (−5.48, 0.34)	.080
Arousal	7.83 (6.82, 8.84)	5.02 (3.44, 6.60)	−1.79 (−4.65, 1.06)	.203
CRIES Total	23.18 (21.06, 25.30)	10.30 (8.04, 12.56)	−6.02 (−13.02, 0.97)	.087

*All weighted figures account for school clustering, stratification based on school-type, and were weighted according to enrollments by year-level, gender, and school-type..

^ Adjusted for age, gender, and school-type..