Internal and community recourses' contribution to level of posttraumatic symptoms-The case of tourists after the earthquake in Nepal, 2015.

Abstract

The current study focused on tourists who were caught in the middle of Nepal's, 2015 earthquake, and survived. We examined the contribution of internal (coping flexibility and emotional regulation) and community resources (sense of belonging to the community) to tourist's level of post traumatic stress disorder symptoms. A cross-sectional sample survey was conducted to collect data from 145 tourists between 2 week to 3 months after the earthquake. The findings indicated first, that longer time which had elapsed since the earthquake was correlated with lower level of posttraumatic symptoms. In addition, higher versatility and cognitive reappraisal were associated with fewer symptoms of posttrauma, whereas higher expressive suppression was associated with a higher level of symptoms. Finally, the more the tourists believed they would get help from other Israelis, the lower was their level of posttraumatic symptoms. Tourists in a disaster area can be aided to develop a variety of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral strategies that will assist them in coping with the trauma. Furthermore, gathering tourists from the same country to conduct interventions on the community level can be helpful. (PsycINFO Database Record