Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Fear of Childbirth in Pregnant Women After the 2023 Earthquake in Türkiye: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: The aim of this research is to investigate the post-traumatic stress levels and the fear of childbirth of pregnant women who experienced 2023 Türkiye earthquakes.
Methods: The research was conducted between March-May 2023 with 311 pregnant women. Online survey was sent to pregnant women living in 11 provinces affected by the earthquake. "Personal Information and Earthquake Experience Form", "DSM-5 Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL-5)" and "Childbirth Fear Scale (CFS)" were used for data collection. Student's t test, One-Way ANOVA, Pearson Correlation were used for statistical tests.
Results: The mean PCL-5 total score of pregnants was 58.99±13.93 and the mean CFS total score was 72.94±12.03. The prevalence rate of post-traumatic stress disorder was 80%. A low level but not statistically significant correlation was found between PCL-5 total and CFS total. A significant correlation was found between some variables related to earthquake experiences and socio-demographic characteristics of pregnant women and PCL-5 and CFS.
Discussion and Conclusion: It was concluded that the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and fear of childbirth was high among pregnant women who experienced earthquake. The results of the study provide a source of information about post-traumatic stress and fear of childbirth for nurses caring for pregnants in the field after the earthquake.

Keywords: Pregnant women; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Childbirth; Fear; Disasters; Nursing