The relationship of birth memory with anxiety and fatigue in postpartum women experiencing earthquake: The case of the Kahramanmaraş earthquake.

Objective: The study was conducted to investigate the relationship between birth memory and anxiety and fatigue in postnatal women who had experienced an earthquake.

Methods: The study, which used a descriptive and relational screening model, was conducted on women who gave birth in a public hospital after the Kahramanmaraş earthquake. A total of 365 postpartum women participated in the study. The "Personal Information Form," the "Birth Memory and Recall Scale," the "State Anxiety Scale," and the "Fatigue Rating Scale" were used to obtain the data.

Results: It was found that there was a significant positive correlation between the mean total score of the birth memory and recall scale and the mean score of the fatigue scale, and there was a significant correlation between the mean scores of the emotional memory, memory centrality, and involuntary recall subscales and the mean score of anxiety level (β = 0.275, P = 0.001; β = 0.176, P = 0.001; β = -0.169 P = 0.004; β = -0.208, P = 0.001, respectively).

Conclusion: It was found that birth memory and recall were significantly associated with the level of fatigue; and emotional memory, centrality of memory, and involuntary recall sub-dimensions were significantly associated with the level of anxiety in postnatal mothers who had experienced an earthquake.