Psychological Wellbeing of Survivors of the Tsunami: Empowerment and Quality of Life
Puangtip Chaiphibalsarisdi PhD*
Affiliation : * Faculty of Nursing, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
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.
Results : 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.
Keywords : Empowerment, Psychological wellbeing, Quality of life, Tsunami survivors
