Post-earthquake trauma level and methods of coping with stress in hospital staff

Earthquake is a natural disaster that causes homelessness, destruction, migration and loss of loved ones, which can lead to significant mental health problems. After the earthquake, hospital workers experience the stress of increased workloads as well as the negative effects of the earthquake. The aim of this study is to determine the level of trauma in hospital workers, to investigate the methods of coping with stress and to contribute to the literature on this subject. Our prospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study was conducted with an online survey on 511 volunteers working at Şanlıurfa Harran University Research Hospital who experienced the February 6 Kahramanmaraş earthquake. In our study, it was found that female gender (p=0,000), losing a relative in the earthquake (p=0,000), having a damaged house (p=0,009), staying outside one's own house after the earthquake (p=0,000), experiencing traumatic events in the past (p=0,000), and participating in search and rescue operations (p=0,012) were risk factors for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition, it was found that the stress scores of non-physician health workers among hospital employees was higher than both physicians and non-medical hospital employees (p=0,001). The reason for this may be that especially nurses have closer contact with patients and establish emotional bonds. Stress scores was found to be lower in those who used positive reappraisal strategies more in coping with stress (p=0,000). Religious coping methods were found to be more related to stress scores (p=0,023). This may be due to the choice of negative religious coping strategies such as thinking about God's punishment. Our study results revealed that all hospital workers, especially nurses and physicians, are at risk for PTSD. It is recommended that hospital workers who experienced the earthquake disaster, which had devastating effects in all aspects, and who are known to be exposed to heavy physical and psychological burden due to their working conditions, should be screened regularly for their current vulnerability and remedial interventions should be planned in order to prevent them from experiencing serious health problems due to PTSD at various levels. Key Words: Hospital Staff, Earthquake, Stress, Trauma