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A Mental Health and Lifestyle Survey (MHLS) has been conducted yearly as part of the Fukushima Health Management Survey since 2012, in order to monitor different health issues related to long-term evacuation of affected people after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. This survey is a mail-based one of nearly 210,000 affected people living in the evacuation zone at the time of the disaster. Another purpose of the MHLS is to provide efficient interventions by telephone based on the results of the survey. Significant findings contributing to understanding of non-radiological health effects caused by long-term evacuation were obtained from the MHLS, directly connecting to telephone-based interventions for over 3,000 respondents per year. In this article, the mental health outcomes of the MHLS, including depressive symptoms and posttraumatic responses, are reviewed, and the usefulness of telephone-based interventions is discussed. The evidence showed that, despite improvement of core mental health outcomes, the prevalence of respondents at high risk of some psychiatric problems remained high compared to that among the general population in Japan. In particular, several mental health consequences of respondents staying outside of Fukushima Prefecture were higher than those staying inside Fukushima. Along with further efforts to increase the response rate, we need to continue and modify the MHLS to meet the requirements of the affected people and communities.

This study examined whether disaster resilience affects the recovery of mental health states and mitigates psychosocial anxiety 10 years later the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident. The survey was conducted in Fukushima's evacuation-directed and non-evacuation-directed areas in January 2020. The 695 participants responded to a questionnaire including items on radiation-related anxiety regarding the Fukushima Daiichi accident, an action-oriented approach as a resilience factor, psychological distress, and demographic information. The structural equation modeling showed that the action-oriented approach also eased radiation-related anxiety by mediating with improving mental health states. Moreover, a multi-group model analysis was conducted for evacuation-directed and non-directed areas. In the evacuation-directed area, we found stronger associations among resilience, mental health states, and radiation-related anxiety, and a direct effect of resilience factors on radiation risk anxiety. These findings emphasize the importance of resilience in post-disaster contexts, at least for a decade, where mental health deteriorates and various psychosocial issues become more complex.

Aim: The aims of the present study were to develop and validate a psychological resilience scale reflecting the specificity of the Fukushima disaster, and to examine the effects of this scale on mental health.Methods: The Fukushima Resilience Scale was developed based on data obtained from semi-structured interviews with seven people who had lived in the affected area of Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the disaster. The reliability and validity of the scale were then examined in cross-sectional studies conducted on 500 evacuees through an epidemiological mail survey. To examine the effects of the scale and disaster-related factors on the general mental health status of the respondents, a logistic regression analysis was performed using the six-item Kessler psychological distress scale.Results: The newly developed scale consisted of a four-factor structure: “coping with stigma-related issues,” “sharing experiences of the disaster,” “action-oriented approach,” and “sense of support.” Internal consistency coefficients ranged from 0.66 to 0.79. The multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that the only significant association was between “action-oriented approach” (odds ratio = 1.26) and respondents with a K6 score

IntroductionSocial anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms are maintained by cognitive biases, which are overestimations of the severity and likelihood of negative social events (cost/probability biases), and by sensitivity to rewards and punishments that are determined according to behavioral inhibition/behavioral activation systems (BIS/BAS). Cost/probability biases might activate the behavioral immune system and exacerbate the avoidance of social events. Earlier studies have proposed that low BIS or high BAS decrease SAD symptoms; BIS/BAS may even change the effects of cognitive biases on SAD symptoms. Hence, the current study investigates the interaction effects of BIS/BAS and cost/probability biases on SAD symptoms.MethodSeventy-six Japanese undergraduate students completed the Japanese version of the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS), which comprises Fear and Avoidance subscales, the BIS/BAS Scale, and the Social Cost Probability Scale.ResultsA multiple regression analysis was performed to examine whether cost/probability biases, BIS/BAS, and their interactions affected SAD symptoms; following this, the main effects of cost bias and BIS were determined for LSAS-Fear (β = 0.64, p < 0.001; β = 0.33, p < 0.01) and LSAS-Avoidance (β = 0.49, p < 0.001; β = 0.35, p < 0.01). The interaction effect between cost bias and BAS was significant for LSAS-Avoidance (β = −0.32, p < 0.05). Simple slope analysis showed that the slope of cost bias was significant for low-BAS individuals (β = 0.77, p < 0.001) but not for high-BAS individuals (β = −0.21, n.s.). The interaction effect between probability bias and BAS was significant for LSAS-Avoidance (β = 0.40, p < 0.01) as well. Further, simple slope analysis revealed that the slope of probability bias was significant for low-BAS individuals (β = −0.53, p < 0.05) but not for high-BAS individuals (β = 0.17, n.s.).DiscussionThe study found interesting results with respect to the avoidance of social events. Low-BAS individuals with high cost or low probability biases regarding social events may have a tendency to avoid social events. In contrast, if high-BAS individuals overestimate the cost of social events or underestimate the probability of social events, their anticipation of rewards might prevent them from avoiding social events.