Active, Not Recruiting

NCT Number: NCT07010861

Effects of Expressive Art Therapy Applied to Earthquake Victims Who Have Experienced Loss

Earthquakes can negatively affect individuals' mental health by creating serious traumatic effects on individual and societal levels. Traumatic experiences such as losing one's home or workplace, being injured, or losing a loved one cause individuals to develop long-term psychological symptoms. In this context, strengthening psychosocial support programs aimed at coping with psychological and social problems after an earthquake is of great importance. In this study, the effect of expressive art therapy applied to individuals who experienced losses due to the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş on psychological symptoms and post-traumatic growth was examined.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

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Key information

Conditions

Earthquake Victims

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Gazi University

Ankara, ÇANKAYA, 06500, Turkey (Türkiye)

About this study

A randomized controlled intervention design with pre-test-post-follow-up measurements was used, which is one of the quantitative research methods. In line with the power analysis, a total of 42 participants, 21 in each group, constituted the research sample. The distribution of participants to the intervention and control groups was made with stratified block randomization. The inclusion criteria of the study included being 18 years of age or older, knowing Turkish, and having experienced material and moral loss due to the earthquake; while the exclusion criteria were mental illness or receiving active psychosocial support. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Post-Traumatic Growth Scale (PTS) were used as data collection tools. The intervention process includes a six-session expressive arts therapy program. The scales will be administered online at pre-test, post-test and two-month follow-up. Data will be evaluated with repeated measures and two-way variance analyses. It is expected that this study will contribute to post-traumatic recovery processes and art-based psychosocial interventions.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Being 18 years of age or older,
Being able to understand, speak and write Turkish,
Having directly experienced the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, -
Having experienced material and moral losses due to the earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş

Exclusion criteria

Having a neurological disorder that prevents communication,
Actively receiving any psychosocial support/counseling

Treatment and study plan

Expressive Art Therapy

Other

As a strategy for coping with trauma, art production creates therapeutic effects on the individual with its sensory and physical aspects (Chapman, 2013; King-West and Hass-Cohen, 2008). When verbal expression is insufficient or carries the risk of re-traumatization, expressive art therapy offers a safe space through non-verbal expression (Talwar, 2007). It is stated that art production is effective in repairing self-integrity ruptures that occur in traumatic experiences (Harris, 2009). Through creative processes, the individual can restructure both internally and externally. Expressive art therapy, especially when applied in a group environment, creates a psychotherapeutic effect by providing participants with the opportunity to express their emotions, imagination and unconscious processes (Malchiodi, 2012; Kim et al., 2021). The commitment and reflective understanding that occur in group psychotherapy are among the factors that give hope and strength (Robb, 2017).

Primary outcomes

Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI)

Time frame: Change from baseline to 6 weeks (also assessed at 14 weeks post-baseline)

It is a 53-item symptom screening scale developed by Derogatis. The scale consists of 9 subscales and 3 global indexes. The 9 subscales of the scale are, respectively, Somatization (S) (items 2, 7, 23, 29, 30, 33, 37), Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) (items 5, 15, 26, 27, 32, 36), Interpersonal sensitivity (IS) (items 20, 21, 22, 42), Depression (D) (items 9, 16, 17, 18, 35, 50), Anxiety disorder (AD) (items 1, 12, 19, 38, 45, 49), Hostility (H) (items 6, 13, 40, 41, 46), Phobic anxiety (PA) (items 8, 28, 31, 43, 47), Paranoid ideation (PD) (items 4, 10, 24, 48, 51) and Psychoticism (P) (items 3, 14, 34, 44, 53). Additional items (EM) (items 11, 25, 39, 52) include items related to eating and drinking disorders, sleep disorders, death and thoughts about death, and feelings of guilt. The global indices are the Disorder Severity Index, the Symptom Total Index, and the Symptom Disorder Index, respectively.
Post-Traumatic Growth Scale (PTGS)

Time frame: Change from baseline to 6 weeks (also assessed at 14 weeks post-baseline)

The Posttraumatic Growth Inventory was developed by Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996) to measure the development that occurs in individuals after trauma. The scale consists of 21 items and the items are scored on a 6-point scale from 0 to 5. The scores obtained from the scale vary between 0 and 105, and a high score indicates that the person has experienced a positive change, that is, growth, after the trauma. Factor analysis determined that the scale has 5 sub-dimensions (positive change in interpersonal relationships, awareness of new opportunities, understanding the value of life, increasing personal resilience, and strengthening spirituality). The internal consistency coefficient of the scale was reported as .93 (Kağan et al., 2012).

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Merve Kızılırmak Tatu

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Effects of Expressive Art Therapy Applied to Earthquake Victims Who Have Experienced Loss on Psychological Symptoms and Post-Traumatic Growth: A Randomized Controlled Study

Important dates

Study start: 2024
Primary completion: 2025
Study completion: 2025
First posted: Jun 8, 2025
Registry last updated: Jun 8, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

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This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.