Preparing for disasters: Understanding mental health effects of emergency situations through the requirements imposed to support systems

Preparing for disasters: Understanding mental health effects of emergency situations through the requirements imposed to support systems | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Preparing for disasters: Understanding mental health effects of emergency situations through the requirements imposed to support systems Carlos Rodrigo Garibay Rubio, Genta Nakano, Yamori Katsuya, Astrid Renneé Peralta Gutiérrez, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6689125/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Purpose: Disasters pose a formidable challenge for mental health support services in terms of resources and timely response. This study evaluates the effects of different types of events on Mexico City population during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, under the assumption that high-resolution time-scale data analysis performed onICT-based and telehealth systems can contribute to understand psychological needs, and toidentifying events with the potential to trigger outburst in support demands, estimate their time of occurrence and the characteristics of calls for service. Methods: The study evaluated the effects of public announcements of quarantine measures, mental health press conferences, festivities during 2020, and earthquakes with public early warnings between 2020 and 2023 reported through national public institutions databases, the “Screening tool for mental health problems” and the “lifeline service”, comprising 138,471 interactions. The analysis uses qualitative and quantitative methods, including principal component analysis, correlations, and one-way ANOVA. Results: The study successfully identified patterns in responses associated with acute stress, depression, and anxiety, as well as possible times of maximum demand associated with different types of events. Complex scenarios with multiple threats pose a high risk to support systems, producing short-term but significant outbursts in demand, with increases as high as 2,651% on a single day. Novelty: The research is novel in its time scope analysis and event-wise approach, providing valuable insights for emergency planning and resource allocation. Additionally, the study proposes evaluation criteria for detecting potential system overloads in telehealth services to enable early countermeasures. Business and commerce/Information systems and information technology Humanities/Health humanities Social science/Psychology Psychological response to disasters Risk communication effects Earthquake psychological effects Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Generalized Anxiety Depression Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 19 Feb, 2026 Reviews received at journal 24 Oct, 2025 Reviews received at journal 02 Aug, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 18 Jun, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 17 Jun, 2025 Editor invited by journal 14 Jun, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 07 Jun, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 29 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 17 May, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6689125","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":473143318,"identity":"358688ae-77d2-4cf0-96ff-aa70498a6f75","order_by":0,"name":"Carlos Rodrigo Garibay Rubio","email":"data:image/png;base64,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","orcid":"","institution":"Kyoto University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Carlos","middleName":"Rodrigo Garibay","lastName":"Rubio","suffix":""},{"id":473143319,"identity":"31b8ed59-190a-4205-af22-aaf1d43298ce","order_by":1,"name":"Genta Nakano","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kyoto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Genta","middleName":"","lastName":"Nakano","suffix":""},{"id":473143320,"identity":"97351f27-cb08-4dd2-9a1b-ac8d6cc09107","order_by":2,"name":"Yamori Katsuya","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kyoto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yamori","middleName":"","lastName":"Katsuya","suffix":""},{"id":473143321,"identity":"b4cc06dc-74ca-4a4e-8b05-b8927e87899b","order_by":3,"name":"Astrid Renneé Peralta Gutiérrez","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Kyoto University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Astrid","middleName":"Renneé Peralta","lastName":"Gutiérrez","suffix":""},{"id":473143322,"identity":"bf26cda8-64e3-4c13-9123-9c15e4154c50","order_by":4,"name":"Silvia Morales Chainé","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"National Autonomous University of Mexico","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Silvia","middleName":"Morales","lastName":"Chainé","suffix":""},{"id":473143323,"identity":"0d87fea5-b2f0-4f86-8e9b-7f30de85e4d2","order_by":5,"name":"Rebeca Robles García","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Rebeca","middleName":"Robles","lastName":"García","suffix":""},{"id":473143324,"identity":"c3ed559b-1b58-4e26-a941-d004707efdb0","order_by":6,"name":"Edgar Landa-Ramírez","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hospital General Dr. Manuel Gea Gonzalez","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Edgar","middleName":"","lastName":"Landa-Ramírez","suffix":""},{"id":473143325,"identity":"0d0a83a6-dca6-4590-b1de-1b50a5d3301e","order_by":7,"name":"Alexis Bojorge Estrada","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alexis","middleName":"Bojorge","lastName":"Estrada","suffix":""},{"id":473143326,"identity":"f901f1f2-dea3-4275-aa49-9b761a7c9bfc","order_by":8,"name":"Diana Iris Tejadilla Orozco","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Hospital Psiquiatrico Infantil Juan N Navarro","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Diana","middleName":"Iris Tejadilla","lastName":"Orozco","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-05-17 23:23:04","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6689125/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6689125/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":84994251,"identity":"c0152514-df7a-4d5b-a248-bbe55bbd3809","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-19 15:56:09","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2089830,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Preparingfordisasters.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6689125/v1_covered_5cf8304e-71db-423b-a9e3-e3fa4d0fdd33.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003ePreparing for disasters: Understanding mental health effects of emergency situations through the requirements imposed to support systems\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Psychological response to disasters, Risk communication effects, Earthquake psychological effects, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Generalized Anxiety, Depression","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6689125/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6689125/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003ePurpose: Disasters pose a formidable challenge for mental health support services in terms of resources and timely response. This study evaluates the effects of different types of events on Mexico City population during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, under the assumption that high-resolution time-scale data analysis performed onICT-based and telehealth systems can contribute to understand psychological needs, and toidentifying events with the potential to trigger outburst in support demands, estimate their time of occurrence and the characteristics of calls for service.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMethods: The study evaluated the effects of public announcements of quarantine measures, mental health press conferences, festivities during 2020, and earthquakes with public early warnings between 2020 and 2023 reported through national public institutions databases, the “Screening tool for mental health problems” and the “lifeline service”, comprising 138,471 interactions. The analysis uses qualitative and quantitative methods, including principal component analysis, correlations, and one-way ANOVA.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eResults: The study successfully identified patterns in responses associated with acute stress, depression, and anxiety, as well as possible times of maximum demand associated with different types of events. Complex scenarios with multiple threats pose a high risk to support systems, producing short-term but significant outbursts in demand, with increases as high as 2,651% on a single day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNovelty: The research is novel in its time scope analysis and event-wise approach, providing valuable insights for emergency planning and resource allocation. Additionally, the study proposes evaluation criteria for detecting potential system overloads in telehealth services to enable early countermeasures.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Preparing for disasters: Understanding mental health effects of emergency situations through the requirements imposed to support systems","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-06-19 15:24:01","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6689125/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-02-19T06:41:07+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-10-24T19:08:01+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-08-02T13:46:13+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"334986888668559236470095228360367047514","date":"2025-07-10T08:06:54+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"124515301649857021130599950536350436687","date":"2025-06-18T14:06:36+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-06-17T14:08:51+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-06-14T17:20:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-06-07T08:52:50+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-05-29T14:11:04+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","date":"2025-05-17T23:14:08+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"humanities-and-social-sciences-communications","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"palcomms","sideBox":"Learn more about [Humanities \u0026 Social Sciences Communications](http://www.nature.com/palcomms/)","snPcode":"41599","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/41599/3","title":"Humanities and Social Sciences Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Nature AJ","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"4ea71011-5600-461f-af20-73e4844e3ad4","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 19th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"in-revision","subjectAreas":[{"id":50307193,"name":"Business and commerce/Information systems and information technology"},{"id":50307194,"name":"Humanities/Health humanities"},{"id":50307195,"name":"Social science/Psychology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-12T06:28:00+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-19 15:24:01","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6689125","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6689125","identity":"rs-6689125","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}