Abstract
After a large-scale natural disaster, demand for social welfare services increases, and the mental health of local social welfare workers becomes a matter of great concern because of their dual role as support providers and disaster survivors. We examined whether work-related social stressors, including criticism by community people and poor workplace communication, were associated with increased risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, or psychological distress 20–22 months after the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE; March 11, 2011) in local social welfare workers. Demographic characteristics, disaster-related risk factors (near-death experience, dead/missing family members, loss of housing), and work-related social risk factors (criticism, lack of communication) were obtained 20–22 months after the GEJE from 822 local workers. Questionnaires measured PTSD, depression, and psychological stress. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were applied. More local social welfare workers suffered from mental health problems than would be expected. Criticism by community people was significantly associated with probable PTSD and high psychological distress (adjusted odds ratio = 2.31 and 2.55, respectively). Furthermore, lack of workplace communication was associated with probable PTSD, depression, and high psychological distress (adjusted odds ratio = 3.97, 4.27, and 4.65, respectively). Almost 2 years after the disaster, local relief workers still suffered from mental health problems. Because post-disaster work-related social stressors constitute risk factors for these mental health problems, measures to improve working conditions and prevent and treat mental disorders should be a priority.
Highlights
Various occupations are known to be involved in the long-term recovery process after largescale disasters, and many studies have focused on the psychological sequelae of disaster rescue workers or “traditional” first responders [1]
It is known that these local workers are at increased risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression due to direct and indirect causes resulting from large-scale disasters [2]
529 (64.6%) workers reported a “near-death experience,” and 217 (26.5%) workers were displaced from their homes because of the damage caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake (GEJE)
Summary
Various occupations are known to be involved in the long-term recovery process after largescale disasters, and many studies have focused on the psychological sequelae of disaster rescue workers or “traditional” first responders [1]. Studies have recently begun to focus on the mental health of local workers who are involved in the recovery process of the affected community and are disaster survivors, such as municipality workers [2,3,4], medical workers [2,5], or disaster volunteers [6]. After the earthquake, a large tsunami struck most of the coastal cities and towns of the Miyagi prefecture, which were severely damaged. This resulted in approximately 400,000 houses being destroyed, and 18,465 people being killed or going missing within the entire country. As always with large-scale natural disasters, the GEJE wreaked enormous damage on entire communities with many residents suffering the loss of family members or friends, possessions, jobs, homes, and health
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