Psychosocial impact of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident after the Great East Japan Earthquake
<Mental health problem and poor health perception in Chernobyl vs. Fukushima>
On 11 March 2011, a gigantic tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake severely damaged Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and then caused a radiation hazard in Fukushima Prefecture. The residents in Fukushima feared the invisible radiation exposure, while its external and internal dose is evaluated very low [1]. The residents have been exposed not only by the low-dose radiation but also by the terrifying information and stigma since the NPP accident occurred [2]. The same problems occurring in Chernobyl …show more content…
Importantly, Bromet et al. concluded that mental health was the largest public health problem after the Chernobyl accident. The …show more content…
(2008) investigated the factors of poor health perceptions after the Chernobyl accident and found the relevance of the young adults' risk perceptions, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and so on [9]. Bromet et al. (2011) also investigated the health perception in young evacuees who were children at the Chernobyl accident [10]. The evacuee adolescents (children at the accident) perceived the consequences of the Chernobyl accident more seriously than their colleagues, but these perceptions were associated only with mental symptoms and not with the mental diseases as the depression. Bromet et al. (2011) considered it the expression of resilience in Chernobyl’s young generation. The Fukushima mental health survey also checked the mental health of children by using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The higher proportions of children (4-6 years old) and children of primary school age (6-12 years old) who scored above the cut-off (≥16) of SDQ 24.4% and 22.0% in the survey of FY2011, which were double the values of a usual state [11], also disclosed the presence of severe mental difficulties in child evacuees. However, the improved proportions of 16.6% in children of 4-6 years old and 15.8% in children of 6-12 years old in FY2012 might also reflect a kind of resilience in child evacuees which was also found in the Chernobyl
<Mental health problem and poor health perception in Chernobyl vs. Fukushima>
On 11 March 2011, a gigantic tsunami following the Great East Japan Earthquake severely damaged Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO) Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and then caused a radiation hazard in Fukushima Prefecture. The residents in Fukushima feared the invisible radiation exposure, while its external and internal dose is evaluated very low [1]. The residents have been exposed not only by the low-dose radiation but also by the terrifying information and stigma since the NPP accident occurred [2]. The same problems occurring in Chernobyl …show more content…
Importantly, Bromet et al. concluded that mental health was the largest public health problem after the Chernobyl accident. The …show more content…
(2008) investigated the factors of poor health perceptions after the Chernobyl accident and found the relevance of the young adults' risk perceptions, depression, generalized anxiety disorder, and so on [9]. Bromet et al. (2011) also investigated the health perception in young evacuees who were children at the Chernobyl accident [10]. The evacuee adolescents (children at the accident) perceived the consequences of the Chernobyl accident more seriously than their colleagues, but these perceptions were associated only with mental symptoms and not with the mental diseases as the depression. Bromet et al. (2011) considered it the expression of resilience in Chernobyl’s young generation. The Fukushima mental health survey also checked the mental health of children by using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The higher proportions of children (4-6 years old) and children of primary school age (6-12 years old) who scored above the cut-off (≥16) of SDQ 24.4% and 22.0% in the survey of FY2011, which were double the values of a usual state [11], also disclosed the presence of severe mental difficulties in child evacuees. However, the improved proportions of 16.6% in children of 4-6 years old and 15.8% in children of 6-12 years old in FY2012 might also reflect a kind of resilience in child evacuees which was also found in the Chernobyl