ONLINE JOURNAL

Vol.5 No.1

Note

RJ-05003: Vol.5 No.1 pp.31-38
Study of mental health on stress processing capability among public health nurses in the Fukushima Prefecture following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant
Koji YOSHIDA1, Tetsuko SHINKAWA1, Hideko URATA2, Noboru TAKAMURA2
1 Department of Health Sciences, Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences
2 Atomic Bomb Disease Institute, Nagasaki University
Keywords: public health nurse, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Sense of Coherence, mental health
Objective: In Japan, public health nurses(PHNs) play an important role in managing the health of local residents, especially after a disaster. Here, in order to support the stress processing capacity of PHNs in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant(FDNPP), we assess the actual state of stress processing capacity and its related factors of PHNs.
Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey among the PHNs (n=430) in July of 2015 via postal mail. The questions assessed PHNs’ demographic factors, knowledge about radiation, degree of anxiety about radiation at the time of the FDNPS accident (and at present), Sense of Coherence-13 (SOC), and General Health Questionnaire(GHQ). We classified the low and high scores and compared members of the group who scored less than 44 points and who scored 44 points or more.
Results: Of the 430 PHNs surveyed, 269(62.6%) were classified in the <44 points group, and 161(37.4%) were in the ≥ 44 points group. When a multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted, PHNs’ low levels of current general anxieties about radiation and low GHQ-12 scores (<4 point) were significantly associated with high SOC scores(≥ 44 points).
Conclusions: The relationship found between the stress processing capacity and anxieties about radiation and mental health of PHNs in the Fukushima Prefecture four years after the FDNPP accident suggests the need to support radiation anxiety reduction.
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