Abstract
BackgroundOn March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami. The tsunami caused tremendous damage and traumatized several people, including children. The aim of this study was to assess changes in traumatic symptoms 8, 20, and 30 months of the 2011 tsunami.MethodsThe study comprised three groups. Copies of the Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms for Children 15 items (PTSSC-15), a self-rating questionnaire on traumatic symptoms, were distributed to 12,524 children (8-month period), 12,193 children (20-month period), and 11,819 children (30-month period). An effective response of children 8 months, 20 months, and 30 month after the disaster was obtained in 11,639 (92.9%), 10,597 (86.9%), and 10,812 children (91.4%), respectively. We calculated the total score, PTSD subscale, and Depression subscale of PTSSC-15. We calculated the total score, PTSD subscale, and Depression subscale of PTSSC-15.ResultsThe PTSSC-15 total score and PTSD subscale of children belonging to 1st–9th grade groups who were tested 30 and 20 months after the tsunami significantly decreased compared with those of children tested 8 months after the tsunami. The PTSSC-15 total score and PTSD subscale of children in 1st–9th grade groups tested after 30 months did not decrease significantly compared with those of children tested after 20 months. The PTSSC-15 Depression subscale and PTSD subscale of children in 1st–9th grade groups tested after 30 months significantly decreased compared with those of children tested 8 months after the tsunami. The PTSSC-15 Depression subscale of children in 1st–9th grade groups evaluated after 30 months significantly decreased compared with those of children evaluated after 20 months.ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that the traumatic symptoms of children who survived the massive tsunami improved with time. Nonetheless, the traumatic symptoms, which in some cases did not improve with time.
Highlights
On March 11, 2011, Japan was struck by a massive earthquake and tsunami
The PTSSC-15 Depression subscale and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subscale of children in 1st–9th-grade groups who were tested after 30 months significantly decreased compared with those of children tested at 8 months (1st– 9th grades, 30-month period vs 8-month period: P,0.001; Fig. 2)
The PTSSC-15 Depression subscale and PTSD subscale of children in the kindergarten and 1st–3th grades and in 4th– 9th-grade groups who were tested after 20 months significantly decreased compared with those of children tested at 8 months
Summary
The tsunami caused tremendous damage and traumatized several people, including children. Many studies have been conducted on children who have survived disasters and had traumatic symptoms [7,8,9,10,11,12,13,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]. 8 and 20 months after the 2011 Japanese tsunami, we collected information on activities of daily living, damage to environmental conditions, and traumatic symptoms of children who survived the disaster [9]. This research showed that traumatic symptoms depend on gender, age, damage to environmental conditions, and bereavement experience and that the traumatic symptoms and activities of daily living of child survivors improved after 20 months compared with 8 months after the disaster. Previous studies showed that traumatic symptoms tend to spontaneously heal over time; severity of PTSD depends on the time elapsed, individual differences, and methods used in a survey [20,22,31,32,33,34,35,36]
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