Post-Natural Disaster Existential Anxiety, Stress, and Resilience: A Cross-Sectional Study on Emergency Response Teams

Abstract

This study aims to examine the relationship between existential anxiety, secondary traumatic stress, and psychological resilience levels among individuals working in emergency response teams following natural disasters. This study employed a cross-sectional and descriptive design, involving 127 public employees who were part of the emergency response teams working during the 6 February 2023, earthquake in Turkey. A highly significant negative relationship was found between the existential anxiety level and the short psychological resilience level of the emergency response workers included in the study (r = -0.656, p < 0.05). A strong negative correlation was found between secondary traumatic stress levels and short psychological resilience levels (r = -0.367, p < 0.05). A positive and significant correlation was found between existential anxiety and secondary traumatic stress (r = 0.499, p < 0.05). Low psychological resilience after disaster response is significantly associated with high existential anxiety and increased secondary traumatic stress levels. It is recommended that emergency response teams receive protective and empowering mental health services from mental health professionals to help them cope functionally with trauma.