Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Their Predictors in Earthquake or Fire Survivors

Abstract

Abstract Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and previous knowledge of emergency management, sense of control over the stressor, perceived threat, and somatic symptoms in earthquake and fire survivors.. Method: The data were obtained from the 2009-database of the Izmir Province Fire Department to include the people who had experienced domestic fire (n=92), from the people who had applied to the Health Group Directory after the 2005 earthquake in Seferihisar (n=38) and from the staff of a third step hospital who experienced a fire in public building in 2010 (n=34). The Impact of Events Scale-revised version (IES-R) was used to determine the traumatic stress levels of the participants; and the Behavior, Security, and Culture - Survivor (BeSeCu- S) questionnaire was used to acquire information on factors before and after the traumatic events. Results: Compared to the fire survivors, the earthquake survivors perceived higher levels of threat and lower levels of control during the event gender, perceived threat, somatic symptoms experienced during the event and perceived control over the event were found to predict the post-traumatic stress disorder. Conclusion: Results of the research suggested that control-focused treatment methods could be effective in treatment of people who had experienced earthquake and fire. It is observed that informing the public about emergency management would be protective for mental health by increasing the sense of control of the individuals at the time of the incident. On the other hand, the positive relationship between PTSD and previous knowledge on emergency suggests that the ringing alarms and practice errors during the fire and earthquake drills could traumatize people. Future research is recommended on the relationship between information processing, somatic symptoms and emotional processes in individuals during earthquake, fire and their drills. © 2018, Turkish Association of Nervous and Mental Health.