Published: April 27, 2014

Written Emotional Expression on Anxiety and Fear of Death among Adolescent Survivors of Earthquake in Eastern Azerbaijan, Iran

Azita Daryayelal
Author
Reza Pourhossein
Author
Seyed Mohammad Reza Rezazadeh
Author
Amir Askari
Author

Abstract

Natural disasters such as earthquakes can impact on mental health and personal development of adolescents. This study is to evaluate the effectiveness of written emotional expression in reduce the anxiety and fear of death among adolescent survivors of earthquake in Eastern Azerbaijan, Iran. This quasi-experimental research was carried out on the 80 adolescents who diagnosed with anxiety and fear of death after the earthquake resides in villages of Heris. Participants in the experimental group (n=40) were asked to write about previously undisclosed personal and emotional events for 3 days and participants in the control group (n=40) did not write. Research instruments were Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS-21) and Death Anxiety Scale (DAS). All subjects were participated in the pre-test, post-test and follow-up, and they completed their data using analysis of ANCOVA were analyzed. Findings shows that written emotional expression has influence on anxiety of adolescent survivors of earthquake and has not influence on their fear of death. So, we can definitely say that written emotional expression had significantly reduced anxiety scores of adolescent survivors in experimental group. The results indicate that treatment of anxiety by written emotional expression task among adolescent survivors of natural disasters is effective in reducing it. This method can be used as an inexpensive and self-help technique to be used in both genders. Also in relation to reducing the fear of death needs to be further investigated in the future.

Keywords
Earthquake Adolescents Anxiety Fear of Death Written Emotional Expression                                  
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