The relationship between post-earthquake trauma level, attitude towards receiving psychological help and care behavior in nurses

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between post-earthquake trauma level, attitudes towards seeking psychological help, and caregiving behavior among nurses. This cross-sectional, descriptive and relational study was conducted between November 2023 and February 2024. The sample of the study consisted of 253 nurses working at Battalgazi State Hospital in Malatya City Center. Data were collected using a sociodemographic information form, the Post-Earthquake Trauma Level Assessment Scale, the Attitude Toward Receiving Psychological Help Scale, and the Caregiving Behaviors Scale. The findings were obtained by performing descriptive statistics, parametric tests, Spearman Correlation Analysis and Simple Linear Regression Analysis in the SPSS 22.0 program, based on a significance value of p<0.05. The average age of the participants was 31.79±7.81, 74.7% were female, 49.4% were single, 55.7% did not have children, and 31.2% had worked for 0-1 years. 35.6% of the participants work in the emergency room and 80.6% did not lose their homes in the earthquake. Of the participants who lost relatives in the earthquake, 85.7% lost one of their other relatives (aunt, uncle, cousin) and 95.7% did not receive psychological support after the earthquake. They received a total score of 52.24±16.68 from the Post-Earthquake Trauma Level Determination Scale, 18.74±4.50 from the Attitude Scale Towards Seeking Psychological Help – Short Form, and 5.20±0.69 from the Caring Behaviors Scale-24. It was concluded that there was a positive relationship between the total score of the nurses' post-earthquake trauma level determination scale and the total score of the attitude scale towards seeking psychological help, and between the total score of the attitude scale towards seeking psychological help and the total score of the care behaviors scale. In addition, it has been determined that nurses exhibit high performance in care behaviors such as assurance, knowledge and skills, respect and commitment to their patients during the care process Keywords: Nurse; Post-earthquake trauma, Receiving psychological help, Care behavior.