Quality of Life Refugees’ Children of Mount Sinabung Eruption
Nur Asnah Sitohang
1
, Diah Lestari Nasution
2
, Ismayadi
3
, Murniati Manik
4
12
Pediatric / Maternity Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
3
Community Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
4
Nutrition Department, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia
Keywords: Life quality, children, mount Sinabung
Abstract: This study aimed at identifying the life quality of refugee’s children of the Mount Sinabung eruption. The
design of this study was descriptive method. The population in this study was 137 children aged 8-16 years,
and were all selected as samples using total sampling technique. The instruments used were questionnaire
adapted from paediatric quality of life inventory (PedsQL). The research was located in the refugee shelter
of the Mount Sinabung eruption in Sigarang-garang village. The results of the study presents that the
characteristics of respondents were aged 13 years (27%), female (54.7%), studying at junior high school
(54.7%), Islam (63.50%), experiencing diarrhea (70.80%), house was ruined and unable to be occupied
(100%). The findings also reveal that the respondents often feel scared (19%), sad (19.7%), afraid of other
children’s mocking (16.1%), forget various kinds of thing (17.5%), and experience difficulties in doing
schoolwork (17.5%). The conclusion can be drawn that the children's quality of life is bad (86.5%). Then, it
is expected that nurses plan activities that enable and empower children to improve the quality of life of
children.
1 INTRODUCTION
Quality of life is a subjective perception of
satisfaction or happiness in life in a domain that is
important to individuals. The three main domains
that are assessed for quality of life are physical,
psychological, and social domains. Quality of life
is influenced by various factors including health
conditions along with its treatment, socioeconomic
status, parenting, and the environment in which a
child is raised. Health condition is an important
aspect to contribute to children’s life quality, so it
has another definition dealing with quality of life
that is related to health which is then called health
related quality of life (HRQoL).
Factors that cause constraints in the protection
of children affected by natural disasters in
Indonesia include: 1) the absence of a law on
disaster management; 2) there is no policy
formulation on special protection for children in
emergency situations such as natural disasters; 3)
disaster management has so far focused on the
stage of rescuing victims and has not touched on
the recovery of the rights of child as victim of
disaster, 4) limited knowledge of parents and the
community about child protection, especially in
disaster situations; 4) limited resources for
protection of child as victim of disasters 5) inter-
agency coordination and cooperation has not been
effective in efforts to protect children (Nugroho.et.
all. 2012).
Disaster is defined as a condition that cannot be
predicted when and where it will occur. When it
occurs, it will have a systematic impact on all lines
of social life. Not only infrastructure, social
systems, and economic order, but also the
psychological impact will also be part of the
disaster. Mount Sinabung is one of the active
mountains in Indonesia.
Mount Sinabung is situated in Karo regency,
North Sumatera. Based on data from the National
Disaster Management Agency or Badan Nasional
Penganggulangan Bencana (BNPB), since it was
declared as an active mountain on August 29,
2010, it has continuously erupted and caused both
loss of life and material loss. In 2017, it spitted out
volcanic ash and incandescent lava as far as 500
meters: level of activity is in the level IV (alert).
Protection of victims of natural disasters is not
only related to physical healing, but also related to
Sitohang, N., Nasution, D., Ismayadi, I. and Manik, M.
Quality of Life Refugees’ Children of Mount Sinabung Eruption.
DOI: 10.5220/0008395000002442
In Proceedings of the Aceh International Nursing Conference (AINC 2018), pages 91-94
ISBN: 978-989-758-413-8
Copyright
c
2022 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
91
trauma handling especially for children. In general,
children are more susceptive to prolonged trauma
than adults, resulting in a decline in mental quality
that affects the quality of life of children (Nugroho
et al. 2012).
In accordance to the background stated in
advance, this study is aimed at identifying the
quality of life of refugees’ children of Mount
Sinabung eruption.
2 METHODS
The research design applied in this study is
descriptive. The population in this study were
children aged 8-16 years old totalling to 137
people. The sampling technique used is total
sampling.
The instrument used was questionnaire which was
adapted from paediatric quality of life inventory
(PedsQL). This study was conducted at the Mount
Sinabung eruption shelter in Sigarang-garang
village starting from April to October 2018. The
research was conducted after obtaining permission
and ethical clearance.
3 RESULTS
Characteristics of refugees’ children as
respondents of this study are illustrated in table 1.
The majority of respondents were 13 years old
(27%), female (54.7%), studying at junior high
school (54.7%), Islam (63.50%), having diarrhea
(70,80%), with house had been ruined and unable
to be occupied (100%).
Table 1: The characteristics of respondents (n=137).
Variables
f(%)
Age
8 y.o
8(5.8)
9 y.o
4(2.9)
10 y.o
4(2.9)
11 y.o
3(2.2)
12 y.o
19(13.9)
13 y.o
37(27)
14 y.o
32(23.4)
15 y.o
26(19)
16 y.o
4 (2.9)
Gender:
Male
62(45.3)
Female
75(54.7)
Educational level
Elementary school
62(45.3)
Junior high school
75(54.7)
Religion
Islam
87(63.50)
Christian
50(36.49)
Illness that have ever been suffered
Diarrhea
97(70.80)
Upper respiratory tract infection
40(29.19)
Parents’ status
Alive
137(100)
House condition
Ruined and unable to be occupied
137(100)
Problem identification
Menstrual hygiene management
75(54.7)
Personal hygiene
137(100)
Spiritual needs
137(100)
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Then, the distribution of respondents’ answers on
quality of life are also various as presented in table
2. The respondents often feel scared (19%), feel
worried that something would happen (14.6%),
feel sad (19.7%), afraid of other children mocking
(16.1%), and forgetting various kinds of things
(17.5%).
Table 2. The distribution of respondents’ answers on quality of life (n=137).
Statements
Never
F(%)
Almost never
F(%)
Sometimes
F(%)
Often
f(%)
Hard to walk more than 100 m
85(62.0)
4(2.9)
38(29.7)
7(5.1)
Hard to run
71(51.8)
5(3.6)
39(28.5)
14(10.2)
Hard to exercise
78(56.9)
4(2.9)
48(5.5)
7(5.1)
Hard to lift heavy weight
59(43.1)
10(7.5)
57(41.6)
10(7.3)
Hard to take a bath alone
95(69.3)
2(1.5)
10(7.3)
23(16.8)
Hard to do house chores
75(54.7)
5(3.6)
32(23.4)
22(16.1)
Feeling pain
44(32.1)
9(6.6)
75(54.7)
9(6.6)
Feeling weak
40(29.2)
8(5.8)
81(59.1)
7(5.1)
Feeling scared
30(21.9)
1(7.0)
74(54.0)
26(19.0)
Feeling sad
15(10.9)
3(2.2)
88(64.2)
27(19.7)
Feeling angry
36(26.3)
10(7.3)
76(55.5)
16(8.8)
Having sleep problem
57(41.6)
11(8.0)
61(44.5)
6(4.4)
Feeling worried about something will happen
31(22.6)
6(4.4)
74(54.0)
20(14.6)
Hard to communicate with other children
81(59.1)
9(6.6)
41(29.9)
6(4.4)
Other children don’t want to be friend
73(53.3)
11(8.0)
49(35.8)
4(1.9)
Other children mocking
40(29.2)
8(2.2)
72(52.0)
22(16.1)
Unable to do something done by other teenagers
67(48.9)
4(8.0)
58(42.3)
1(0.7)
Hard to be involved in group
83(60.6)
9(6.6)
38(27.7)
6(4.4)
Hard to be concentrate on school lesson
51(37.2)
5(3.6)
76(52.6)
7(5.1)
Forgetting many things
42(34.4)
8(5.8)
74(54.0)
24(17.5)
Having difficulty doing school assignment
28(20.4)
8(5.8)
74(54.)
24(17.5)
Absent due to unwell
25(16.8)
17(12.4)
94(68.6)
2(1.7)
Absent due to going to doctor or hospital
67(48.9)
14(10.2)
55(40.1)
1(0.7)
4 DISCUSSION
Sigarang-garang village is located on the north side
of Mount Sinabung. It is one of the worst affected
areas by the eruption. Since December 2013, this
village has got the effect of the eruption of Mount
Sinabung. All infrastructures were damaged,
including people's agricultural land which has been
the main source of income. In Monday morning on
February 19, 2018, Mount Sinabung re-erupted
with a roar, cold lava flood and the formation of
explosion hot cloud.
There are 50 families who still live in the
surroundings of Sekolah Dasar (SD) or elementary
school Sigarang-garang. Based on the results of the
study, the majority of respondents were 13 years
old (27%), female (54.7%), studying at junior high
school (54.7%), Islam (63.50%), having diarrhea
(70,80%), house is ruined and unable to be
occupied (100%). This is in line with the results of
the study conducted by Herdwiyanti & Sudaryono
(2013). They claim that it is estimated that around
66 million children worldwide are affected by the
disaster every year. More than 300,000 residents
were affected by the Mount Merapi eruption where
100,000 of them were children. Children surviving
from disaster also lost their homes and beloved
ones. They also suffered injuries and experienced
psychological trauma.
The results showed that respondents often feel
scared (19%), feel worried that something would
happen (14.6%), feel sad (19.7%), afraid of other
children mocking (16.1%), and forgetting various
kinds of things (17.5%). These results are in line
with the research of Rhoads & Donnelly (2010)
which states that 60% of children experience
Quality of Life Refugees’ Children of Mount Sinabung Eruption
93
separation anxiety and 30% experience general
anxiety, with symptoms that is having difficulty
attending school because of the emotional stress,
especially anxiety due to depression. Furthermore,
it was also found that 2% of all respondents were
school-age children. Children who refuse to attend
school are 5%. Girls and boys who experience
anxiety aged in 10-13 years old are 4%.
Anxiety that arises in the victims of the Mount
Merapi eruption are fear of earthquake, seeing
mountains, roar, erupting mountains, seeing
parents unable to go to the fields, crops are
damaged, fear of going to play, to school, the
atmosphere of a new place for example in refugee
camps and teacher changes in new schools, and
other things that can remind them of the volcanic
eruption events (Zailani et al. 2009).
The results of the study also obtained data that
respondents often have difficulties in doing
schoolwork (17.5%). The eruption of mount
Sinabung occurred since 2013 and nowadays , SD
040478 Sigarang-garang has been no longer
functioned due to heavy damage. Students were
transferred to other elementary schools in the
neighbouring village namely Raya village. During
the ride at this school, respondents had to go to
school during the day which caused them to feel
sleepy because they were not used to school in that
time. In addition, the learning facilities at the
shelter or evacuation centre are not adequate. So,
the respondents find it difficult to learn and do
homework from school.
5 CONCLUSION
Based on the data analysis, it can be concluded that
the life quality of refugees’ children of mount
Sinabung eruption is classified as bad (86.5%).
Furthermore, it is expected that nurses plan an
education and teaching strategy that can enable and
empower children to improve the life quality of
children.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The writers would like to express appreciation to
The Ministries of Research, Technology and
Higher Education of Indonesia for funding the
research grant no 121/UN5.2.3.1/PPM/KP-
DRPM/2018.
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