The Effect of Basic Disaster Awareness Education on Disaster Literacy and AnxietyLevels in Adolescents (ADEB-RCT)

June 20, 2026 updated by: Selen Ozdemir, Erzincan Binali Yildirim Universitesi

The Effect of Basic Disaster Awareness Education Given to Adolescents on Disaster Literacy and Earthquake Anxiety Levels: A Pre-Test Post-Test Randomized Controlled Study

This study aimed to determine the effect of basic disaster awareness education on adolescents' disaster literacy and earthquake anxiety levels.

A pre-test post-test randomized controlled experimental study was conducted at two middle schools in Erzincan between April-June 2026. A total of 128 adolescent students aged 10-14 (64 intervention, 64 control) were included. Basic disaster awareness education was applied to the intervention group in 3 weekly sessions of approximately 40 minutes each. Data were collected using the Personal Information Form, the Disaster Literacy Scale for Adolescents (AYAOÖ, range: 29-145, higher = better literacy), and the Earthquake Anxiety Scale (DKÖ, range: 12-60, higher = greater anxiety).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Turkey is a high-risk country for natural disasters. Adolescents constitute an important target group for disaster preparedness education. This randomized controlled study evaluated the effect of structured disaster awareness education on both disaster literacy and earthquake anxiety.

Two-stage randomization was used: schools were assigned by lottery to intervention/control groups (cluster randomization), and then students within each school were selected by stratified simple random sampling according to grade level (5th-8th grade). The intervention group received 3 weekly sessions covering earthquake preparedness, fire and flood safety, and storm/landslide/avalanche hazards. Educational methods included lecture, Q&A, hands-on demonstrations (drop-cover-hold-on drill, fire extinguisher use, disaster bag contents), brainstorming, gamification, and interactive learning activities.

One week before and one week after the education program, both groups completed the same data collection tools. Statistical analyses included independent t-test, paired t-test, and effect size calculation (Cohen d, r, r²). Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

128

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Turkey (Türkiye)
      • Erzincan, Turkey (Türkiye), 24002
        • Two Middle Schools under the Erzincan Provincial Directorate of National Education Erzincan, Turkey

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Being a 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th grade student at one of the research middle schools in Erzincan city centre
  • Being aged 10-14 years
  • Agreeing to participate (with written parental consent and student assent)
  • No diagnosed mental illness
  • Being literate and accessible
  • No communication barrier

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Having previously received any formal disaster preparedness or disaster management training

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Intervention Group

64 adolescent students (10-14 years) at one middle school in Erzincan, selected by stratified random sampling. Received 3 weekly sessions of Basic Disaster Awareness Education.

Intervention: Basic Disaster Awareness Education Week 1: Earthquake (definition, preparedness, drop-cover-hold-on drill, disaster bag). Week 2: Fire and flood (prevention, response, fire extinguisher practice). Week 3: Storm, landslide, and avalanche (causes, risks, behavioral responses). Methods: lecture, Q&A, hands-on demonstration, brainstorming, gamification, interactive learning.
Behavioral: Intervention
64 adolescent students (10-14 years) at one middle school in Erzincan, selected by stratified random sampling. Received 3 weekly sessions of Basic Disaster Awareness Education.
No Intervention: Control Group
64 adolescent students (10-14 years) at the other middle school in Erzincan, selected by stratified random sampling. No intervention during the study period. Received education materials after post-test completion (ethical requirement).

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Disaster Literacy Level Assessed by the Disaster Literacy Scale forAdolescents
Time Frame: Administered 1 week before and 1 week after the education program. Range: 29-145; higher scores indicate better disaster literacy.
Administered 1 week before and 1 week after the education program. Range: 29-145; higher scores indicate better disaster literacy.
Earthquake Anxiety Level Assessed by the Earthquake Anxiety Scale
Time Frame: 1 week before and 1 week after the education. Range: 12-60; higher scores indicate greater earthquake anxiety.
1 week before and 1 week after the education. Range: 12-60; higher scores indicate greater earthquake anxiety.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Erzincan Binali Yildirim Universitesi

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

  • Brown LM, Haun JN, Peterson L. A proposed disaster literacy model. Disaster Med Public Health Prep. 2014;8(3):267-275. Bayram H. Deprem kaygısı ölçeği'nin geliştirilmesi. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi. 2024;62:120-138. Yalçınöz Baysal H, Türkoğlu N, Güzel S. Adölesanlara Yönelik Afet Okuryazarlığı: Bir Ölçek Geliştirme Çalışması. Balkan 12th International Conference on Applied Sciences. November 2024. Genç FZ, et al. Disaster literacy levels of individuals aged 18-60 years. Int J Disaster Risk Reduction. 2022;76:102991.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 10, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

June 10, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

June 10, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 13, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 20, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 25, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 25, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 20, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Erzincan_Adolescent_DisasterEd

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data will not be shared due to privacy regulations and institutional policy.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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