TY - JOUR PY - 2024// TI - The impact of earthquakes on women: assessing women's mental health in aftermath of the Kahramanmaraş-centred earthquake in Türkiye JO - Journal of public health (Oxford) A1 - Kaplan, Veysal A1 - Alkasaby, Muhammad A1 - Düken, Mehmet Emin A1 - Kaçkin, Özlem A1 - Riad, Abanoub SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - BACKGROUND: Earthquakes disproportionately affect women and exacerbate gender and social inequalities. This study aims to investigate the psychological impact of the earthquake in Türkiye on women and the associated factors.

METHODS: This is a survey-based study. We collected data from 498 women residing in cities most affected by the earthquake.

RESULTS: Participants' mean age was 27.72 ± 5.4. Over 78% of the participants lost at least one family member, and 43.7% lost at least one child due to the earthquake. The mean average of Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) scores was 100.8 (SD = 8.37), and the Global Severity Index was 1.9 (SD = 0.16). Regression analysis showed that higher education levels predicted poor outcomes across most BSI dimensions. Losing a family member and shelter and injury status were also predictors for several mental health outcomes of the BSI subscales.

CONCLUSIONS: Earthquakes significantly impact women's well-being and may have a broader impact on the whole family. There is an urgent need to provide psycho-social interventions in the response and recovery phases of the crisis to meet the affected women's needs. This includes providing basic needs with attention to women-specific needs, restoring social networks, addressing gender-based violence and providing gender-sensitive specialized interventions for those who need further support.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1741-3842 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdae059 ID - ref1 ER -