A Global Collaboration for Community-Based Disaster Preparation and Health Promotion: Fukushima to Zuunbayan in Mongolia.

Excessive radiation exposure has adverse effects on health. In Fukushima, psychological issues such as anxiety are still affecting people nine years after the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in 2011. In light of the lessons learned from Fukushima communities, a joint Japanese and Mongolian research team introduced a community program to the Zuunbayan district in Mongolia, which is located near a uranium deposit, to promote good health by strengthening radiation emergency preparedness. The program, which commenced in 2017, aimed to increase community participation, education, information dissemination, and capacity of community preparedness. After two years a monitoring study showed that, out of 227 respondents, the proportions who thought that any level of radiation was dangerous decreased from 53.3% in 2017 to 33.9% in 2019. Moreover, half of the respondents knew that there were safe and unsafe radiation levels and that their community was safe. This global collaboration demonstrated that a lesson learned from a disaster can be applied to other countries and changed people's recognition and behavior toward good health and disaster/emergency preparedness.

Issues in Radiation Nursing Education in Japan Before and After the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant Accident.

BACKGROUND: The response of nurses in Japan to the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident was deemed inadequate. This study examined the issues in Japanese radiation nursing education. METHOD: Anonymous, self-administered postal questionnaires were sent to managers and teachers of 1053 basic nursing educational institutions in Japan. RESULTS: Among the 342 institutions that completed the questionnaire, 218 (63.7%) had incorporated Radiological Nursing Education into their curriculum while 124 (36.3%) had not. Based on the time of their incorporation, they were divided into the pre-accident incorporation group and the post-accident incorporation groups. For 89 of 111 institutions (85.6%) in the former group, the main reason for the incorporation was radiotherapy care. For 11 of 26 institutions (42.3%) in the latter group, the incorporation was their response to the nuclear disaster. CONCLUSION: Nursing education in Japan has been inadequate, and as such, nurses find it hard to respond to nuclear disasters. Examining the current nursing education system and building a new model based on the nuclear disaster experience are urgent issues.

Trajectory and factors of radiation risk perception of students aged 10-12 years at the time of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station accident.

Various studies have investigated radiation risk perceptions after the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. However, student surveys are limited. This study aimed to investigate the perception of radiation risk among students aged 18-20 years who were in the 5th and 6th grades of elementary school at the time of the accident. We surveyed students in the Fukushima Prefecture and outside the prefecture. Out of all the data, 59% of the respondents were living in the Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the accident and 41% outside the prefecture. Trajectory analysis showed that changes in anxiety levels over time since 2011 could be divided into five classes: (a) the anxiety was the highest, and this tendency persisted. (b) High at the beginning, but decreased more quickly than class 1. (c) High at the beginning, but it diminished quickly. (d) Not high, but did not diminish easily in later years. (e) Low from the beginning, and persisted. Multinomial logistic analysis showed that among students living outside the prefecture at the time of the accident, a significantly higher proportion was in groups 4 and 5 than in group 2. A significant proportion of boys were present in groups 3, 4 and 5. A significant proportion of students whose current educational institutions were inside the prefecture were present in group 3. The level of anxiety was associated with the academic course, but not with subjective knowledge of radiation. In contrast, in the qualitative analysis of the free text, 31% considered 'knowledge about radiation' as the reason for the reduction in anxiety level. At the time of the investigation, most young people were not anxious about radiation. However, approximately 20% still had strong anxiety. We established that continuous risk communication is necessary. Furthermore, that stabilization and support related to life in general is important.

Associated factors related to participation in general health checkup and survey of the effect of low-dose radiation exposure on health of residents of Fukushima Prefecture after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident caused radioactive contamination of the surrounding area. In addition to annual health checkups, a survey of the effects of low-dose radiation exposure on health among Fukushima Prefecture residents after the accident has been conducted. Despite health literacy (HL) being recognized as essential to health, its association with participation in these checkups and the survey remains unknown. We aimed to describe the HL status of the Fukushima Prefecture residents and to verify the hypothesis that HL is associated with participation in both checkup and survey. In a cross-sectional study, a questionnaire was sent to 2000 randomly sampled Fukushima Prefecture residents; data from 770 individuals were analyzed. Communicative and critical HL were measured using a 5-point scale. Factors associated with participation were examined using logistic regression. The survey's valid response rate was 38.5%. The average HL score was 3.11 ± 0.81. HL was not associated with checkup or survey participation. Checkup participation was negatively associated with radiation anxiety (odds ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.86-0.99, p = 0.03). The HL of Fukushima Prefecture residents after the accident was relatively lower than that of the Japanese general population, which may be attributed to difference in educational background. The complexities involved in understanding the effects of radiation on the health of residents could explain why no association between HL and participation in a health checkup and survey was observed. Future studies with a longitudinal design should clarify causality between anxiety and checkup participation.

The Association between Utilization of Media Information and Current Health Anxiety Among the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Evacuees.

The 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima was not only a health disaster, but also an information disaster. Although media can promote health communication following disasters, studies have revealed associations between media information and negative psychological reactions. To clarify the relationship between media utilization and current health anxiety due to radiation exposure, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in Fukushima. We selected 2000 subjects from evacuation (i.e., 500) and non-evacuation (i.e., 1500) areas by two-stage stratified random sampling. As the independent variable, participants were asked about current health anxiety due to radiation exposure at the time of answering the questionnaire. For utilization of media about radiation exposure, local media, national media, Internet media, public broadcasts, and public relations information from local government were set as the dependent variables. Questionnaire data were analyzed by evacuation type (i.e., forced/voluntary). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the use of public relations information was significantly associated with lower anxiety for the forced evacuees (odds ratio: 0.72; 95% confidence interval: 0.56-0.93). Our findings highlight the importance of public relations information from local government in terms of it being associated with lower current health anxiety, and this could potentially aid in preparing for future disasters.