Trauma and well-being in colombian disaster contexts: effects of religious coping, forgivingness, and hope

These two cross-sectional studies examined whether trauma impacts disaster survivors’ psychological well-being through its influence on positive and negative religious coping and on dispositional forgivingness and hope. Colombia was selected because it is a highly religious country that has endured a protracted armed conflict (1964-present) and recent, devastating natural disaster (2017 Mocoa landslide). Study 1 focused on 272 conflict survivors in Monteria; Study 2 focused on 1,651 landslide survivors. All participants completed Spanish versions of the PTSD CheckList-5, Kessler-10, Brief RCOPE, Trait Forgivingness Scale, Herth Hope Index, and Positive Psychotherapy Inventory. In Study 1, survivors’ trauma contributed to greater negative religious coping, then to lower dispositional forgivingness and hope, and ultimately to lower well-being. Study 2 results replicated this finding and also revealed evidence that survivors’ trauma contributed to higher positive religious coping, then greater dispositional forgivingness and hope, and ultimately better well-being. Implications for disaster research and practice are discussed.