Investigation of trauma-related cognitions as predictors of stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth in patients with trauma

The aim of this research was to investigate the trauma-related cognitions as predictors of stress symptoms and posttraumatic growth in patients with trauma. The descriptive study was carried out with 151 patients who applied to a university hospital. The data of the study were collected by using 'Personal Information Form', 'Posttraumatic Stress Diagnostic Scale (PDS)', 'Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PGI)' and 'Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI)'. Descriptive tests, correlation analysis, simple linear regression analysis, One–Way Anova and Kruskal Wallis were used to analyze the data. In the study, it was seen that the most disturbing event among the traumatic events experienced was to be diagnosed with a life-threatening disease (66.2%) followed by a serious accident (16.6%) and war (7.3%). The mean scores of the patients were 138 ± 42.15 for PTCI, 26.07 ± 9.64 for traumatic stress symptom level and 2.87 ± 0.97 for PGI. A positive correlation was found between the total score and all the sub-scales of PDS and PTCI's 'Negative Cognitions about the World' sub-scale (p<0.05). A positive correlation was determined between the sub-scales of the PDS except for 'the impact of the event on one's life' and the sub-scales of PTCI (p<0.05). While there was a significant negative relationship between the 'changes in self perception' factor of PGI and the 'Negative Cognitions about Self' sub-scale of PTCI (p<0.05). there was no significant relationship between PGI and PTCI (p>0.05). Conclusion: It was observed that the traumatic stress levels of the patients were moderate-severe, the highest level of posttraumatic growth was experienced regarding changes in self perceptions and that the trauma-related negative cognitions were above the average. It was determined that patients' trauma-related cognitions significantly predicted their posttraumatic stress levels. It is recommended that cognitive behavioral therapies regarding negative cognitions be offered in order to reduce the stress symptoms of patients with trauma and provide positive progress after trauma.