The association of posttraumatic stress disorder risk with help-seeking behavior: A cross-sectional study of earthquake and tsunami survivors in Japan.

Abstract

The Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 and subsequent tsunami affected the northeastern coast of Japan. We investigated the association between the risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and help-seeking behaviors of survivors in a landlocked city in Japan’s Tohoku area at 1 year after this disaster. The participants were 902 residents of Ichinoseki City and 218 evacuees from coastal areas to the city. We used sociodemographic characteristics, the Trauma Screening Questionnaire with a score ≥6 defined as predicted PTSD, and the General Help-Seeking Questionnaire. We examined the whole sample and the stratified samples between the Ichinoseki residents and the evacuees. Missing values were complemented using a multiple imputation method after a missing-value analysis. Data from the final sample of 1,101 respondents were analyzed using logistic regression and sensitivity analyses. Compared with the Ichinoseki residents, the evacuees were older, showed higher Trauma Screening Questionnaire scores, and had fewer house occupants. However, the prevalence of predicted PTSD was not different between the 2 groups. In the whole sample and among the Ichinoseki residents, predicted PTSD was associated with an active help-seeking behavior, possibly from mental health professionals. In the evacuees, predicted PTSD was not associated with any specific help-seeking behavior. Although survivors with predicted PTSD in the whole sample and among the Ichinoseki residents showed an active help-seeking behavior, the evacuees with predicted PTSD showed little active help-seeking behavior. Traumatized survivors’ help-seeking activity may also vary according to the type of disaster and/or evacuation situation.