2011 Van depremlerini yaşayanlarda travma sonrası stres ve travma sonrası büyümeyi yordayan faktörler

Earthquakes, like other natural major disasters involves trauma resulting from exposure and/or witnessing to deaths and injuries, extreme fear of threatening situations, loss of a significant one, monetary loss and need of extreme physical power. On the other hand, the survivors may have also present positive changes in face of adversity. In present study, both negative and positive impacts of Van earthquakes which happened in 23rd of October and 9th of November 2011 are examined. 630 volunteer teachers from Erciş and Van districts participated in the study who experienced at least one of the earthquake in the disaster area. The data was collected four months after the second earthquake. Female gender, degree of exposure (proximity to the epicenter), loss of life, helpless coping, negative cognitions about self and world are found to be the risk factors for Posttraumatic Stress (PTS). In addition to the same variables, problem focused coping also significantly predicted the level of Hyperarousal and Intrusion factors. Avoidance factor was predicted by ego-resilience, helplessness coping, and negative cognitions about self. The predictors of Posttraumatic Growth (PTG) were found to be female gender, ego-resilience, perceived social support, problem focused coping, fatalistic coping, and seeking support coping. The mediator role of Posttraumatic Cognitions and Coping Styles in developing PTS and PTG were investigated. The results were discussed within the previous literature and posttraumatic stress and growth theories. Furthermore, limitations of the study, implications of the findings for clinical practice and community interventions, and future research were discussed.