First name:
Carla
Last name:
Sanchez-Noya
Class Year:
2022
Advisor:
Suzi Ruhl
Essay Abstract:
The devastating consequences of climate change pose many serious threats to human health and wellbeing. Historically, research has focused on the physical impact climate events have on human health, but much less attention has been paid to the psychological and emotional toll these events can have on populations. This essay provides a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the relationship between mental wellbeing and environmental justice using the cities of New Haven and Bridgeport as case studies. It seeks to determine what communities are most vulnerable to environmental adversity and which ones are underserved with respect to mental health care. Qualitative interviews of key informants who could speak to environmental justice issues and overall mental wellbeing in each city were conducted to gain an initial understanding of the main challenges community members face. Preliminary statistical analyses were then conducted to demonstrate whether the relationship between EJ index, mental wellbeing, and Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) locations is statistically significant. The results of the simple linear regression between the EJSCREEN EJ index and the CDC mental wellbeing data showed that the two variables were moderately positively correlated, and that these results were statistically significant. I hope this research will highlight the importance of incorporating mental wellbeing into existing EJ screening tools like EJSCREEN, in addition to sparking a larger conversation about health access and equity in communities most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.