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Abstract
BackgroundMothers living with small children in Fukushima prefecture may experience radiation anxiety and related symptoms after the Fukushima Dai’ich Nuclear Power Plant Accident. A behavioral activation (BA) program was developed to improve their psychosomatic symptoms. The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effectiveness of a BA program for improving psychological distress and physical symptoms among mothers with preschool children in Fukushima-prefecture 3 years after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.MethodsParticipants were recruited from mothers living with a preschool child(ren) in Fukushima city and surrounding areas though a newspaper advertisement, posters, and flyers. Participants allocated to the intervention group received a newly developed group-based BA program, which consisted of two 90- min lessons with a 1-week interval. Psychological distress and physical symptoms as a primary outcome, and radiation anxiety and positive well-being (liveliness and life satisfaction) as a secondary outcome, were measured at baseline, 1- and 3-month follow-ups.ResultsParticipants were randomly allocated to either an intervention or a control group (18 and 19, respectively). The BA program showed a marginally significant intervention effect on psychological distress (p = 0.051) and physical symptoms (p = 0.07) at 1-month follow-up, while the effect became smaller at 3-month follow-up. The effect sizes at 1-month were medium to large (-0.72 and -0.56, respectively). There was a significant intervention effect on increasing liveliness at 3-month follow-up (p = 0.02); and there were marginally significant effects on life satisfaction at 1- and 3-month follow-ups (both p = 0.09).ConclusionsThis BA program may be effective for improving psychological distress, physical symptoms, and well-being, at least for a short duration, among mothers with preschool children after the nuclear power plant accident in Fukushima, while a further large-scale study is needed.Trial registrationThe UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN-CTR; ID = UMIN000014081). Registered 27 May 2014.
Highlights
Mothers living with small children in Fukushima prefecture may experience radiation anxiety and related symptoms after the Fukushima Dai’ich Nuclear Power Plant Accident
World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations (UN) reports have estimated a cumulative effective dose in the first year following the accident for adults at 1–10 micro Sv in the sea-side area and other less affected areas of Fukushima prefecture [1, 2]
For the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, it was reported that mothers with infant and preschool children living in areas close to the plant experienced increased levels of depression [14]
Summary
Mothers living with small children in Fukushima prefecture may experience radiation anxiety and related symptoms after the Fukushima Dai’ich Nuclear Power Plant Accident. A behavioral activation (BA) program was developed to improve their psychosomatic symptoms The purpose of this randomized controlled trial was to examine the effectiveness of a BA program for improving psychological distress and physical symptoms among mothers with preschool children in Fukushima-prefecture 3 years after the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident. For the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant accident, it was reported that mothers with infant and preschool children living in areas close to the plant experienced increased levels of depression [14]. No psychological intervention program has been developed or tested for effectiveness in reducing psychological distress among mothers with small children due to radiation anxiety after a nuclear power plant accident
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