Abstract

The study is given in the context of the 2016 mobilizations occurred in Chiloe, Chile, and related to the presence of a ‘red tide’ that restricted the supply of marine resources, which are the main source of labor and economy in the region. In the face of this socio-environmental disaster, the degree of impact, levels of psychosocial trauma (PST) and post-traumatic growth (PTG) in the population (N=89) were evaluated, along with the relationship between these variables. The entire sample indicates that the disaster altered their lives either significantly (33.7%) or severely (41.6%), considering it as a major (28.1%) or severe (37.1%) trauma to their lives. A multiple regression analysis performed indicates that personal PTG is predicted by the variables of personal and collective self-efficacy and pre-traumatic situation (corrected R2 =0.15). No significant regression models were generated for communal and societal PTG. The need to address the effects of social phenomena from psychosocial variables such as those proposed and their relevance in social or community intervention is discussed. In addition, the relevance of having measuring scales adapted to these contexts is pointed out.