Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Earthquake Victims in the Disaster of the Century

The aim of this study was to determine the posttraumatic stress disorder of individuals who experienced the earthquake in Turkey on 6 February 2023. Within the scope of the descriptive study, 590 individuals who experienced earthquakes were reached by convenience sampling method. "Descriptive Questionnaire Form" and "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Short Scale (PTSD-SS)" were used to collect the data of the study. Independent groups t test, Oneway ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and correlation analyses were used to compare the independent variables with the dependent variable. The results of the study revealed that there was a statistically significant difference between PTSD-SS and age, gender, marital status, education level, perceived income level, location in the first and second earthquakes, people who were with the victims during the earthquakes, status and duration of being under the collapse, benefiting from socio-economic and psycho-social support after the earthquake, place of residence after the earthquakes and damage to houses as a result of the earthquakes (p < 0.05). In conclusion, it is recommended that interventions planned to reduce Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in populations affected by the earthquakes that occurred in Turkey on 6 February 2023 should focus on low-income people, those who were buried during the earthquake, those whose homes were damaged, and those who lived in places other than their own homes after the earthquake. In addition, there is a need for more research on PTSD after these earthquakes. In particular, planning the studies to understand the long-term psychological effects of the earthquake will make important contributions to the literature. The results of the research are expected to contribute to the knowledge about post-traumatic stress disorder in post-earthquake health and social services.