Mental health of nurses after the Fukushima complex disaster: a narrative review

Abstract

Work-related mental health impairment is recognized as a real problem in the context of helping responders, including health professionals, due to adverse health outcomes after a severe disaster. The Great East-Japan Earthquake, which occurred on 11 March 2011, was an unprecedented complex disaster that caused a nuclear accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). In addition to disaster stress and daily work, medical and health-care professionals, particularly nurses, provided counseling services to residents concerned about radiation health risks or mental health issues. This review focuses on the psychological aspects of the complex nuclear disaster, which was a combined artificial nuclear accident and natural disaster, and we investigated the psychological effects on hospital nurses associated with their experiences during the disaster. We looked at several investigations into the mental health of nurses after a nuclear disaster and in other situations. It was shown that mental health of nurses is impacted, not only after nuclear disasters but also in other circumstances. Furthermore, we noted the effects of extended periods of a heavy workload and daily life. Regarding anxiety about radiation exposure, nurses who had more knowledge of radiation tended to have better mental health, suggesting that education about the health risks of radiation exposure is important for health-care professionals. In summary, it is essential that nurses are provided with education about radiation exposure and its associated health risks, and also that there is a comprehensive approach to mental health care for nurses during the chronic phase of a disaster.

An experiential approach to developing radiological content for public health nursing: Lessons from a nuclear disaster

“…The need for PHN education based on the characteristics of the target groups and nuclear disaster was identified in the six categories (Table ). Nukui et al () found similar educational needs about radiation for hospital nurses.…”

“…Some evacuees never go back to the contaminated area of their hometown because of the possibility of legal action. Wives may move far away from the disaster area to reduce radiation exposure to the children, while husbands remain for employment (Nukui et al, ). People may not be able to dispel their uneasiness about radiation even after many years (Murakami et al, ).…”

“…Each of these periods had special characteristics and the population had corresponding needs related to the nuclear disaster. Radiation is invisible and may affect people's daily life for many years to come while changing their daily pattern of life (Nukui, Midorikawa, Murakami, Maeda, & Ohtsuru, 2018;Ohki, 2012). There is evidence that the presence of radiation also caused emotional reactions ranging from vague uneasiness to major anxiety (Kawasaki et al, 2015;Kayama et al, 2014).…”

Association of Anxiety over Radiation Exposure and Acquisition of Knowledge Regarding Occupational Health Management in Operation Leader Candidates of Radioactivity Decontamination Workers in Fukushima, Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…For the association between radiation-related knowledge and anxiety, results from past studies have been inconsistent: said knowledge has been reported to be associated with both increase/presence of anxiety [5,6] and decrease/absence of anxiety [7][8][9][10][11]. Moreover, little is known of the association between such knowledge and anxiety in OLs.…”

“…The purpose of the current study is to examine the association between anxiety over radiation exposure and the possession/acquisition of the knowledge of OHM required for OLs. Considering past studies that reported that radiation-related knowledge possession and absence of anxiety were associated among professional workers [8], we hypothesized that possession of accurate knowledge regarding OHM is associated with absence of anxiety. We suspected that OLs' accurate knowledge for OHM contributes to anxiety reduction, and that such anxiety reduction leads to the safety and security of radioactivity decontamination work; however, anxiety over radiation exposure is not necessarily entirely negative.…”