Mental Health During Crisis: Development and Evaluation of the Post-disaster Spiritual Coping Scale in Turkey.

This research presents the detailed development of the post-disaster spiritual coping scale, which aims to evaluate post-disaster spiritual coping processes. The study's first step in developing the scale has been to review the literature on the effects disasters have on the lives of individuals alongside spiritual coping's role in this process. The study has also taken into account the steps required when developing a scale. Data were initially collected from individuals who'd experienced the February 6 Kahramanmaras earthquake, after which the scale items were created. In line with expert opinions, a pilot application of the scale was applied before the items took their final form. During the data collection phase, data were collected three times (N1 = 388, N2 = 194, N3 = 94). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was then performed, and the scale was concluded to consist of one dimension and 13 items. Afterward, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed over the 13-item scale, confirming the results from the previous analysis. The CFA results also showed acceptable goodness-of-fit values to have been obtained (χ2/df = 2.200; RMSEA = 0.061; SRMR = 0.024; CFI = 0.933; GFI = 0.908). At the same time, each item in the scale was concluded to have a sufficient loading value. As a result of the analysis of internal consistency for the scale, Cronbach's alpha was found to be 0.950. Significant values were also obtained as a result of the criterion validity analysis for the developed scale. In conclusion, the final version of the post-disaster spiritual coping scale has been developed and validated, with the reliability and validity coefficients of the scale being found sufficient. This scale can be used as a powerful tool for evaluating the spiritual coping mechanisms of individuals who are being affected by disaster.

Evaluation of Nasopharyngeal and Conjunctival Swab Samples of Hospitalised Patients with Confirmed COVID-19.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the results of conjunctival and nasopharyngeal swab tests in patients with confirmed COVID-19. METHODS: This prospective study included 45 patients who were hospitalized for confirmed COVID-19. Nasopharyngeal swab samples were obtained from the patients before hospitalization. Only one eye of each patient was randomly selected for-conjunctival sampling. All participants underwent a complete slit-lamp examination. Conjunctival and nasopharyngeal swab samples were analyzed by reversetranscriptase-polymerase-chain reaction (RT-PCR). RESULTS: Twenty seven (60%) of the patients were male and 18 (40%) were female. Conjunctival swab was positive in only one (2.22%) patient. None of the COVID-19 patients showed ocular changes and symptoms. There were no abnormalities of the ocular surface, anterior chamber or posterior segment at slit-lamp examination. CONCLUSIONS: The RT-PCR was not high positive in the conjunctiva as in nasopharyngeal swabs. Ocular changes were not common in COVID-19 patients.