Introduction: This study aimed to develop an effective virtual reality (VR)-based
intervention program to improve trauma symptoms of survivors of the 2023
Kahramanmaraş earthquake.
Methods: In line with this aim, the sample of the study consisted of 34 earthquake survivors
aged 15-72 years (mean: 38.09, standard deviation (SD): 15.09) who were directly affected
by the Kahramanmaraş earthquake on February 6, 2023. A five-stage intervention program
(normalization, reinterpretation, creating a safe place, developing problem-focused coping
strategies, and social support) was applied to 17 participants (mean: 36.88, SD: 13.65), who
constituted the intervention group, using VR technology. All participants assigned to the
intervention group received the intervention, which included normalization, reinterpreting
the earthquake, creating a safe place, problem-focused coping, and increasing social
support, one time in a standardized manner. In the stages of reinterpretation, creating
a safe place and problem-focused coping VR technology was used and the stages of
normalization and increasing social support were carried out with psychotherapeutic
work involving one-to-one interaction between the researcher and the participant. The
five-stage intervention program started to be implemented 51 days after the February 6
Kahramanmaraş earthquakes and all stages of the intervention were completed within
seven days. Measurements were taken from the participants at two different times: preintervention
pre-test and post-intervention post-test. The 17 participants in the control
group (mean: 39.29, SD: 16.75) were placed on a waiting list. Data were collected using
the “Sociodemographic Information Form”, “Posttraumatic Growth Inventory”, “Scale for
Determining the Level of Post-Earthquake Trauma” and “Ways of Coping Scale”.
Results: Before the intervention, the groups were controlled in terms of posttraumatic
growth, post-earthquake trauma level, fatalistic coping, social support-seeking coping, and
helplessness style coping levels and no difference was observed between them (p>0.05).
After the intervention, it was found that the posttraumatic growth and social supportseeking
coping scores of the earthquake survivors who received VR-supported intervention
were significantly higher than the scores of the control group, and the post-earthquake
trauma level, fatalistic coping and helplessness style coping scores were significantly lower
than the control group scores (p<0.05). As a result of the in-group analyses, it is seen that
the post-traumatic growth, social support-seeking coping and problem-focused coping
scores of the intervention group participants after the VR-supported intervention increased
statistically significantly compared to the pre-intervention, while the post-earthquake
trauma level, fatalistic coping and helplessness style coping scores decreased statistically
significantly compared to the pre-intervention (p<0.05). However, it is seen that the scores
of the control group participants from all other scales of the Ways of Coping Scale, except
for the fatalistic coping subscale, did not change statistically significantly (p>0.05).
Conclusion: As a result of the analysis, it is seen that the VR-supported intervention
program developed is effective in improving the trauma symptoms of earthquake
survivors. The rapid and statistically significant reduction in the trauma levels of
earthquake survivors as a result of the developed intervention shows that the relevant
intervention can be applied in other trauma areas and suggested for further studies.
Keywords: Earthquake, intervention, normalization, signification, social support, virtual
reality