Psychological Stress Among Local Government Employees Engaged in Disaster Response and Reconstruction Assistance after the Great East Japan Earthquake: Mental Health Research Conducted in One Year after the Disaster

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify the workload of disaster emergency response and the relationship between stress-related factors and mental health conditions among local govern ment employees one year after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. A cross-sectional ques tionnaire study of 6,073 employees from 34 local government unit associations in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures was undertaken from April to May 2012. The workload of disaster emergency response decreased gradually during one year after the disaster. About 20 percent of the participants showed a high degree of the psychological distress scale. The stressors, living conditions, disaster emergency response work, occupational she werealth and safety sys tem, critical incidence stress and emotional labour, were significantly associated to the stress response outcome. Assessing mental health conditions regularly and building a mental health support system for a long term after the disaster may be needed for the local government em ployees in the disaster-stricken area.