Cumulative trauma and other determinants of post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression in medical students following the Great Anatolian earthquake in Turkey.

Abstract

Background: Following the 2023 Turkey earthquake, university students in the earthquake district were transferred to other universities and our university was one of those. In addition, the families of many of our students were living in the earthquake district, and they were with their families during the earthquake due to the semester. We created a trauma psychiatry policlinic to serve medical students and others affected by the disaster. To identify students affected and to provide support, we conducted a cross-sectional study on medical students two months after the earthquake. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence rate and cumulative trauma and other determinants of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression.

Methods: A cluster sampling procedure was used. In addition to generating socio-demographic and earthquake related dataform, PTSD checklist-5, Cumulative Stress and Trauma Scale (CST-S), and Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory were administered. All results were evaluated statistically.

Results: A total of 617 medical students participated in the study. PTSD, anxiety, and depression rates were 38.9%, 28.7%, and 21.1% respectively. Gender, previous psychiatric diagnosis, and high scores of earthquake-related features were significant for three. Negative scores of survival, personal identity, collective identity, and family-attachment trauma sub-types of CST-S were associated with all three diagnoses.

Conclusions: Negative scores of the survival, personal identity, collective identity, and family attachment trauma subtypes of the CST-S are associated with all three diagnoses. However, these results require to be supported by longitudinal studies.