Background: A natural disaster event may cause property loss and affect people’s health. Shelters are arranged for victims to live after disasters occur. Living in shelters is recognized as stressful life events to individuals, especially women. Physical and psychological changes may occur due to the stressful events of disaster impacts. It is important to improve women’s health condition during and after disaster. However, there is limited research examining health status among women who are living in shelters after natural disasters.
Purposes: This study was designed to determine the association among demographic characteristics, coping strategies, social support, and health status among women living in shelters after natural disaster in Indonesia.
Methods: This study was a design cross-sectional study. Women who lived in nine permanent shelters located in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia were recruited. The assessments contained the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, the Ways of Coping Checklist, the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support and demographic characteristics.
Results: 186 women (age 18 – 65) participated in this study. Coping strategies and social support were statistically significant associated with health status respectively. Multiple linear regressions analyses showed that age, duration living in shelters, being single, health problem, education, social support and coping strategies were significant predictors of health status. Those predictors had 2.8% to 29.7% of the variance to predict women’s health status after a natural disaster.
Conclusions: Social support and coping strategies are important factors related with women’s health status after a natural disaster. Improving adaptive coping strategies among women living in shelters after a natural disaster is needed. Family and friends may recognize as significant social supports for women who are living in shelters after a disaster event.

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