Mental Health Distress and Related Factors Among Prefectural Public Servants Seven Months After the Great East Japan Earthquake

Abstract

BackgroundTo develop an empirically informed support measure for workers, we examined mental health distress and its risk factors among prefectural public servants who were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and faced a demanding workload in the midterm of the disaster.MethodsWe conducted a self-administered health survey of all public servants in the Miyagi prefectural government two and seven months after the Great East Japan Earthquake (3743 workers, 70.6% of all employees). We calculated odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for mental distress (defined as K6 score ≥10) in the domain of disaster-work-related stressors, work-related stressors, and disaster-related stressors.ResultsAmong those with better levels of workplace communication, the only factor that increased the risk of mental distress was not taking a non-work day each week (adjusted OR 2.55, 95% CI 1.27–5.14). Among those with poorer levels of workplace communication, in addition to not taking a non-work day each week (adjusted OR 3.93, 95% CI 3.00–5.15), handling residents’ complaints (adjusted OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.00–2.42), having dead or missing family members (adjusted OR 2.87, 95% CI 1.53–5.38), and living in a shelter more than two months after the disaster (adjusted OR 2.80, 95% CI 1.32–5.95) increased the risk of mental distress.ConclusionsAll workers should be encouraged to take a non-work day each week. Among workers with poor workplace communication, special attention should be given to those who handle residents’ complaints, have lost a family member(s), and are living in a shelter for a prolonged period of time.

Social and occupational factors associated with psychological wellbeing among occupational groups affected by disaster: a systematic review

“…Having leadership responsibility was associated with lower risk of PTSD symptoms in governmental employees following a bombing (Hansen et al, 2013). Suzuki et al (2014) showed greater mental distress in public servants who were specifically involved in disaster-related work, particularly handling residents' complaints, following an earthquake. Elklit et al (1997) found that having to perform first aid was associated with feelings of distress and guilt about not being able to help more in super-tanker engineering workers.…”

“…Suzuki et al (2014) found that those living in a shelter following the disaster were more likely to experience distress. Similarly, Leon et al (2007) found that university employees displaced to temporary living accommodation were at greater risk for stress than those with the same living circumstances as before the disaster; those displaced for greater than 3 months also had greater stress than those displaced for less than a month.…”

“…Having any close other who was killed or injured predicted depression, panic attacks and anxiety (Jordan et al, 2004), post-traumatic stress symptoms (Tapp et al, 2005) and general stress (Leon et al, 2007). Having family members killed or missing was associated with distress in public servants following an earthquake (Suzuki et al, 2014). Nasky et al (2009) found that hyperarousal and intrusion scores were higher for those who had a good friend injured or die as opposed to a less close acquaintance, and that avoidance, intrusion, hyperarousal and depression scores were all higher for those whose best friend was injured or killed.…”

“…Satisfaction with management and leadership was associated with general job satisfaction in super tanker engineering workers (Elklit, 1997), whereas satisfaction with workplace communication was associated with less mental distress in public servants (Suzuki et al, 2014). Van der Velden et al (2014) found that employees who felt they had 'problems with colleagues' were more likely to experience anxiety, depression, hostility, and reporting having had at least two mental health disturbances following a disaster.…”

Association Between Sleep Disturbance and New-onset Subjective Shoulder Pain in Survivors of the Great East Japan Earthquake: A Prospective Cohort Study in Miyagi Prefecture

“…Sleep disturbance was defined as an AIS score greater than or equal to 6/24 at 2 years after the GEJE (Okajima et al 2013); psychological distress, a K6 score greater than or equal to 10/24 at 2 years after the GEJE (Suzuki et al 2014). …”