The effect of cognitive behavior approach-based psycoeducation on cognitive emotion regulation strategies and levels of negative emotional symptoms of emerging adults with earthquake experience: randomized controlled trial

Abstract This research was conducted as a randomized controlled experimental study to determine the effect of cognitive behavioral approach-based psychoeducation on the cognitive emotion regulation strategies and negative emotional symptom levels of emerging adults who experienced an earthquake. The sample of the study consisted of 61 emerging adults between the ages of 18–29 who experienced an earthquake. The data of the research were collected between 23 October and 20 December 2023 with the “Personal Information Form”, “Cognitive Emotion Regulation Scale” and “Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale”. Psychoeducation Program was implemented as group training 2 days a week and a total of 9 sessions. It was determined that the psychoeducation program had a moderate and high level of significant effect on cognitive emotion regulation strategies and negative emotional symptom levels ( p < 0.05). After the Psychoeducation Program, it was determined that the intervention group had significantly different mean scores on the cognitive emotion regulation subscales and depression, anxiety and stress subscales compared to the control group ( p < 0.05). The use of cognitive emotion regulation strategies and the levels of depression, anxiety and stress of the participants in the control group did not show any significant difference between the measurements ( p > 0.05). The findings showed that the structured cognitive behavioral approach-based brief psychoeducation program is a feasible disaster mental health intervention program for emerging adults who do not have a psychiatric diagnosis but have experienced trauma. It is recommended that future research determine how long the benefits of the program last and its effectiveness in individuals with mixed traumatic experiences.