Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2022 July, 257(3)

The Mental Health of Long-Term Evacuees outside Fukushima Prefecture after the Great East Japan Earthquake

Noriko Sodeyama,¹ Hirokazu Tachikawa,² Sho Takahashi,² Miyuki Aiba,³ Yayoi Haraguchi⁴ and Tetsuaki Arai¹

¹Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
²Department of Disaster and Community Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan
³Faculty of Human Sciences, Toyo Gakuen University, Tokyo, Japan
⁴College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ibaraki University, Mito, Ibaraki, Japan

Ten years after the Great East Japan Earthquake, thousands of residents of Fukushima Prefecture were still living as evacuees. Among them, unignorable numbers of people were living outside of the prefecture. A survey was conducted with evacuees to Ibaraki, the neighboring prefecture of Fukushima, to investigate their medium- to long-term mental care needs. A questionnaire was sent to 1,470 households that had been living in Fukushima on March 11, 2011, and who were evacuated to Ibaraki by October 2016. Binary logistic regression analyses were performed to identify risk factors for major depressive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal ideation. Of the participants, 16.5% had a high risk for major depressive disorder, 39.0% exhibited a high risk for PTSD, and 19.7% indicated suicidal ideation. “Own injuries and illnesses” and “Worries about the hometown” were risk factors for major depressive disorder, PTSD, and suicidal ideation. “Not receiving compensation for damages” was a risk factor common to major depressive disorder and suicidal ideation. There is a high possibility that many people who have evacuated to other prefectures might still be suffering from psychological symptoms after the disaster. Worries about their hometowns were highly related to their mental disorders.

Keywords —— evacuation; major depressive disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); risk factor; suicidal ideation

© 2022 Tohoku University Medical Press

===============================

Tohoku J. Exp. Med 2022, 257, 261-271.

Correspondence: Hirokazu Tachikawa, Department of Disaster and Community Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8575, Japan.

e-mail: tachikawa@md.tsukuba.ac.jp