Content Analysis of Post-Disaster Socio-Psychological Research Focusing on Methodology and Subject Research

INTRODUCTION: The impact of disasters on the mental and physical health of affected communities requires planning for socio-psychological recovery, recognizing various dimensions, and research on the arising issues. The present study is conducted with the aim to focus on methodological and subject research approaches in international post-disaster studies in the framework of research design, target society, and measurement of key structures, in order to identify existing research gaps in this field. METHODS: In the present study, a purposeful post-disaster content analysis was performed quantitatively and qualitatively on socio-psychological studies in 39 journals indexed in databases. After the purposeful and specific steps, 73 studies were coded in an accurate review process, and then the codes extracted (research strategies, research project implementation, highlighted topics, sampling method, statistical population, and data collection tools) were analyzed in Excel software and presented in the form of descriptive statistics. FINDINGS: Cross-sectional studies with quantitative strategy, random sampling method, standardized structured questionnaire, and large statistical population have the highest frequency. The predominant subjects studied on an individual scale were the individual postdisaster psychological consequences and on a collective scale were indicators associated with socio-psychological recovery. CONCLUSION: The imbalance in the socio-psychological studies of disasters and the recovery indicators in both individual and collective scales require paying attention to the subjects related to the individual recovery and mental health and a deeper understanding of the sociopsychological consequences of disasters. In addition to the current research approaches, the investigations on the post-traumatic neuroscience will be growing in the future perspective. Expanding the scope of quantitative research and neuroscience requires standardized measurement scales in developing countries. The reliability of the study findings was 71.5%.