Psychological wellbeing of survivors of the tsunami: empowerment and quality of life.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare the empowerment and the quality of life of individuals before and after receiving the psychological services and support interventions. STUDY DESIGN: This quasi-experimental research had two hypotheses 1) the survivors gained empowerment, and 2) the survivors experienced improvement in their quality of life, after receiving the interventions. SETTING: Krabi province of Thailand. STUDY POPULATION 593 survivors of the Tsunami on 26 December 2004. MATERIAL AND METHOD: The instrument to assess empowerment was modified from Miller, while the instrument to assess quality of life was WHO-BREF. RESULTS: After the intervention, the overall mean of empowerment was at the maximum level, and revealed an increased percentage of the quality of life at a good level in all four domains. The level of the psychological domain was the highest. CONCLUSION: The sample showed a significant increase in both empowerment and quality of life (p < 0.001). The findings support the hypotheses.