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Trauma Level of Midwifery Students After the Catastrophe of the Century Turkey Earthquake: A Cross-Sectional Descriptive Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2025

Sakine Yılmaz Open the ORCID record for Sakine Yılmaz [Opens in a new window] ,
Yadigar Ordu Open the ORCID record for Yadigar Ordu [Opens in a new window]  and
Demet Aktaş Open the ORCID record for Demet Aktaş [Opens in a new window]
Sakine Yılmaz*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Science, Department of Midwifery, Karatekin University, Çankırı, Turkey
Yadigar Ordu
Affiliation:
Faculty of Nursing, Department of Nursing, Necmettin Erbakan University, Konya, Turkey
Demet Aktaş
Affiliation:
Faculty of Health Science, Department of Midwifery, Karatekin University, Çankırı, Turkey
*
Corresponding author: Sakine Yılmaz; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Objective

Earthquakes deeply affect people’s lives and cause significant psychological damage. This study was conducted to determine the trauma level of midwifery students after the devastating earthquake in Turkey.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted with 252 students enrolled in the midwifery department of the Faculty of Health Sciences of a state university in Turkey. Data were collected using the participant information form and the Scale for Determining the Level of Post-Earthquake Trauma. Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney U tests were used for data analysis.

Results

This study found that post-earthquake, students had trauma levels and sub-dimension scores related to behavioral problems, excitement limitation, affective and cognitive structuring, and sleep problems that were above average. The research revealed that students who were present in one of the earthquake-affected provinces, experienced house destruction, suffered the loss of relatives, had previous traumatic events, or received disaster management training had significantly higher levels of trauma.

Conclusions

In this direction, it is of utmost importance for university students in midwifery departments to be prepared for natural disasters like earthquakes. This preparedness will enable them to effectively cope with the physical and psychological issues caused by such disasters, benefiting both their own health and public health.

Keywords

earthquakenatural disastermidwifery studentstrauma level
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 19 , 2025 , e79
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc

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