Reflection of children’s earthquake perceptions on drawings

On 6 February 2023, a devastating earthquake hit 10 provinces in Turkey. One of the groups most affected by such disasters is children. It will be easier for them to express their situations that they cannot express in words through drawings, which is important for providing psychosocial support to both healthcare personnel and teachers and for gaining a comprehensive idea about their special needs. This study aims to determine the disaster experiences and psychosocial support needs of children aged 8–13 years in Hatay, one of the cities most damaged by the earthquake in Turkey, through drawings. This study used a descriptive qualitative design using purposive and snowball sampling approaches to select 20 children aged 8–13 for the study. Four children were excluded from the study due to missing data. Thematic analysis approach was used to analyse the data, and five different themes expressed through the drawings of school-aged children were revealed. Reporting in this study followed the Consolidation Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ). These five themes are associated with death and physical damage, damaging natural events, rescue and assistance, precaution and resilience, and starting over. This study emphasises that children’s adaptation to this difficult period and conditions can be facilitated through psychosocial interventions appropriate to their ages and needs.