مطالب

Background: Bangkok's urban landscape features approximately 6,000 high-rise towers housing millions of residents in what was historically considered a seismically stable region. However, the March 28, 2025 magnitude-7.7 Myanmar earthquake triggered widespread psychological distress among Bangkok's vertical communities despite causing minimal structural damage. While existing disaster psychology research demonstrates that individual appraisal processes and coping resources influence distress outcomes, high-density vertical urban environments remain largely unexplored in disaster literature, particularly within Asian megacities where socioeconomic inequities may compound vulnerabilities. Aims: This study aimed to quantify earthquake-related emotional distress changes, evaluate the effectiveness of different coping strategies, examine socioeconomic and disability-related moderators, and test Transactional Model of Stress and Coping pathways among Bangkok's high-rise population. Methods: A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted two weeks post-earthquake using multistage stratified probability sampling. From 120 randomly selected buildings across Bangkok's districts, 5,200 households received survey invitations, yielding 2,104 completed responses (40.5% response rate). Participants were adults residing at least six months in buildings exceeding eight floors. Validated Thai-adapted instruments included the Kessler-6 for psychological distress, Insomnia Severity Index, and custom scales measuring emergency preparedness, social support-seeking, and self-care behaviors. Statistical analyses employed paired t-tests, ANOVA, MANOVA, and bootstrap mediation procedures with effect size reporting. Results: Clinically significant insomnia prevalence increased from 27.4% to 61.8% post-earthquake. Emergency preparedness behaviors were associated with lower anxiety levels, while social support-seeking correlated with reduced insomnia severity. Significant disparities emerged across housing tenure, income levels, and disability status, with renters demonstrating lower preparedness rates than homeowners (54.6% versus 71.9%). Mediation analyses revealed that preparedness and support-seeking behaviors collectively explained 37.7% of the association between perceived seismic threat and psychological distress outcomes. Conclusion: Perceived earthquake threat, rather than actual structural damage, emerged as the primary driver of psychological distress in Bangkok's high-rise communities. While emergency preparedness and social support provided substantial protective effects against anxiety and insomnia, these resources were inequitably distributed across socioeconomic groups. These findings highlight the critical need for inclusive disaster preparedness policies that address structural barriers affecting vulnerable populations in rapidly urbanizing megacities facing emerging seismic risks.

This study examined the personal, professional, and contextual barriers to teacher identity (TI) within English language institutes and their strategies to navigate them. The study used a multiple case study approach with semi-structured interviews for data collection. It involved four Iranian English institute teachers aged 22 to 30, with varying degrees of education: two holding a B.A., one an M.A., and one a Ph.D. Data analysis utilizing thematic analysis revealed that insecurity, self-doubt, perfectionism, and challenges in balancing personal and professional lives were personal barriers to TI. Moreover, professional barriers such as excessive workloads, strict adherence to academic norms, and stress from peers and superiors could hinder TI development. Furthermore, contextual barriers, including hierarchical cultures, top-down decision-making, and rigid institutional policies, could restrict TI development. The findings also revealed some patterns among these barriers. The results showed that contextual barriers exacerbate professional barriers. Moreover, professional barriers exacerbate personal barriers. Teachers often try to navigate barriers by seeking feedback, engaging in professional development, advocating for their needs, holding meetings, using dead times, focusing on strengths rather than weaknesses, accepting faults and shortcomings, promoting shared leadership, prioritizing self-care and work-life balance, expanding knowledge through reading more, setting realistic goals, recommending solutions, being more flexible, involving and engaging students, motivating students, taking assessment as learning perspective, etc. The study's findings have implications for teachers, teacher training programs, and educational policy.