Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
THE 9th International ESTD Congress, Katowice, Polonya, 10 - 12 Ekim 2024, ss.1, (Özet Bildiri)
Introduction: War and terrorist attacks can have negative psychological consequences not only for the people who are exposed to these traumatic experiences but also for their families and even their children. Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate childhood traumas, dissociative experiences (psychoform and somatoform dissociation), psychiatric symptoms, and depression in veterans who experienced war and terrorist attacks, their spouses, and their children. Methods: This study was conducted on the basis of a relational survey design, and comparative statistical analyses were made between the data obtained from disabled war and terrorism veterans wounded in action, spouses, and children of veterans. Participants: The sample of our study is Turkish Disabled War Veterans, Martyr Widows and Orphans Association, who is a member of the Istanbul branch. It consists of 62 war veterans wounded in action and 62 war veterans wounded in action, 62 war veteran spouses, 62 terror veteran spouses, 35 war veteran children, and 37 terror veteran children, for a total of 320 people. Participants were recruited through the Turkish Disabled War Veterans, Martyr Widows and Orphans Association. The inclusion criteria for veterans wounded in action in this study are as follows: Those who participated in the Cyprus Peace Operation constitute war veterans wounded in action; those who were exposed to terrorist attacks in different regions of Turkey and on the border of Northern Iraq between 1985 and 2016 constitute terrorism veterans wounded in action. The applications were conducted face-to-face with veterans wounded in action, their spouses, and their children at this association between August 2020 and January 2022. Data: In this original research, data were collected with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Dissociative Experiences Scale, the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire. Analysis: The independent samples t-test was used to compare the groups in our study in terms of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire (SDQ). Multiple regression analysis was conducted to determine the predictor effect of childhood traumas on depression and somatoform dissociation in war and terrorism veterans wounded in action. Findings: The total Childhood Trauma Questionnaire score of 94.4% (302 people) of all our participants is 35 and above, which is considered the cut-off point for childhood traumas. Considering the main findings of our study, the Dissociative Experiences Scale average of terror veterans is 26.49, war veterans 25.16, terror veterans’ spouses 22.58, war veterans’ spouses 23.85, terror veterans’ children 19.41 and war veterans’ children 20.46. In terms of depression, when veterans spouses and children are compared, it has been revealed that the spouses of terror veterans are more depressed than the spouses of war veterans, and the children of war veterans are more depressed than the children of terror veterans. In terms of somatoform dissociation, only a difference was found between terror veterans and war veterans, and it was determined that terror veterans experienced more somatoform dissociation than war veterans. When terror veterans and war veterans were compared in terms of psychiatric symptoms, it was revealed that terror veterans in the anxiety, depression, negative self, and hostility dimensions had more severe psychopathological symptoms than war veterans. In terror veterans, emotional neglect explained 19% of the variance in the somatoform dissociation dependent variable, and physical abuse, physical neglect, and emotional neglect together explained 42% of the variance in the depression dependent variable. Conclusions: This study has revealed that disabled war and terrorism veterans, their spouses, and children intensely suffer from dissociative experiences (psychoform and somatoform dissociation), depression, and psychopathological symptoms. In future studies, it is recommended to conduct more studies focused on the families of these veterans instead of focusing only on war and terrorism veterans.