The Impact of School-Based Disaster Education on Psychological Resilience in High-Risk Urban Areas of Türkiye: A Quasi-Experimental Study

This study examines the impact of a school-based disaster education program aimed at enhancing psychological resilience among teachers, administrators, and students in high-risk urban areas of Istanbul, Türkiye. Unlike conventional programs focusing solely on physical preparedness, this intervention emphasizes cognitive, emotional, and social components to strengthen psychological readiness. Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest-control group design, data were collected from six schools across three high-risk districts. The findings indicate that the intervention significantly improved psychological resilience levels in the experimental group, with these gains sustained over a three-month follow-up period. Improvements were evident across all participant groups, while the control group showed only minor changes. This study contributes to the limited research on integrated, psychologically focused disaster education in urban contexts. The results highlight the importance of including psychological resilience in disaster preparedness policies and offer practical implications for enhancing school and community-based disaster readiness in earthquake-prone areas.