Evaluation of theses on dissociation and dissociative disorders in Türkiye: A meta-synthesis study

The aim of this study is to evaluate the aims, results and recommendations of theses published in Türkiye on dissociation and dissociative disorders by meta-synthesis method. In our study, 144 theses published between 1995 and 2022 and containing the keywords "dissociation" and/or "dissociative disorders" in the database of the National Thesis Center of the Council of Higher Education were included. These were evaluated by thematic content analysis method in terms of university, institute, science/department, type, subject, year, specialty (master's/doctorate/expertise in medicine), aim, conclusion and recommendations. It was determined that 45.8% of the theses on dissociation and dissociative disorders in Türkiye were published between 2018-2022, 55.6% were expertise in medicine theses, 53.5% were in the field of psychiatry, 97.2 % were original research studies, and 96.5 % employed quantitative methodology. 29.2% of the dissertations within the scope of our study examined the relationship between dissociation and psychological variables in a non-clinical population, 26.4% of the dissertations found a relationship between dissociation and traumatic experiences, family dynamics, and other psychological characteristics, and 16.0% of the dissertations suggested the need for more cross-sectional and/or longitudinal research. This is the first study to evaluate thesis abstracts containing the terms dissociation and/or dissociative disorders using the meta-synthesis method. It is believed that meta-synthesis studies on dissociation will contribute to the development of short-term therapy models and raise awareness about dissociative disorders, the psychiatric diagnosis group most closely associated with traumatic experiences.