Life, Trauma, and Growth in Adult Female Survivors of Bam Earthquake: The Phenomenology of 16-Year Post-Earthquake Lived Experience Rayhaneh Jafarizadeh University of Tehran Reza Pourhusein (
[email protected] ) University of Tehran Shahriar Borghei University of Tehran Shahin Sakhi University of California, Los Angeles Research Article Keywords: Earthquake, Phenomenology, Post-traumatic stress disorder, Post-traumatic growth, Women Posted Date: May 20th, 2021 DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-514117/v1 License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Read Full License Page 1/30 Abstract Background: Earthquake, as a natural disaster, is considered to be one of the traumatic events. Considering the concept of trauma and two consequences of the earthquake (namely stress and growth), the present study aimed to delve into the 16-year post-earthquake living experience of adult female Bam earthquake’s survivors and its relationship with their current lives. Methods: This qualitative study was carried out in 2018, in which the interpretive phenomenological analysis method was adopted, and in-depth semi-structured interviews were run. In this study, six 22-34- year-old adult female survivors in the age range of 6-18 years at the time of the Bam Earthquake (2007) were selected using the purposive sampling method. Moreover, thematic analysis was used to extract the themes. Results: The participants’ lives could be depicted using the following themes: life before the earthquake, the moment of the earthquake, the rst days after the earthquake, back to life, fear, regret, and excellence after the trauma. Conclusion: According to the ndings, the pre-earthquake life and post-earthquake social support, including the same identity of the earthquake (e.g., Bam) survivors, are the signicant dimensions making the tolerance of the earthquake experience possible.