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

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.