Is Earthquake Psychological Trauma a Cause of Post-Earthquake Dizziness? (Using Standard Vector Machine)

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal the relationship between complaints such as dizziness of university students who experienced an earthquake in Kahramanmaraş and surrounding provinces on February 6, 2023 and the psychological trauma caused by the earthquake. 476 university students who survived the earthquake that occurred in Kahramanmaraş on February 6, 2023 in Turkey were included in this study. In the first part of the survey, students were asked about dizziness that did not occur before the earthquake but occurred after the earthquake, and in the second part of the survey, a total of 41 questions were asked in the six sub-dimensions of the attitude scale to determine the psychological states of individuals exposed to the earthquake, and each of the six variables, namely detachment from life, social health, psychological change, trauma anxiety, maturation, and avoidance, was compared with dizziness and the relationship between dizziness and the other six variables was tried to be found. In this study, the ‘’Attitude Scale for Determining the Psychological States of Individuals Exposed to Earthquakes’’ was used to reveal the psychological states of the students; and the ‘’Standard Vector Machine’’ (VRM) was used for statistical studies. The study concluded that dizziness that did not occur before the earthquake but occurred after the earthquake was closely related to the psychological trauma experienced due to the earthquake.