2018 Volume 21 Issue 2 Pages 14-21
Objective: To clarify the process of avoiding radiation exposure of mothers who had children under 6 years old at the time of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Stations（FDNPS）accident.
Methods: A semi-structured interview was conducted with the twenty-one mothers and the data analysis was conducted by the trajectory equifinality approach（TEA）．
Results: The mothers had gathered negative information about the FDNPS accident from the internet. Because of this negative information, they began to connect this information to the negative events they were experiencing in their daily life. Therefore, they began to draught the information by the Japanese government that said there would be no harmful effects from the radiation caused by the accident. The mothers thought that if they continued to live in the disaster area instead of evacuating, their children may experience health issues that were attributable to their radiation exposure. Because of this, they began to consider evacuating the disaster area with their children. In addition to considering whether to evacuate the disaster area with their children, the mothers also had to think deeply about how this choice would affect their family members, especially their husbands. However, while negotiating whether or not to evacuate the disaster area with their husbands, many mothers decided to give priority to their role as a mother. As a result, they decided to evacuate from the disaster area in order to provide a good life for their children.
Discussion: When working as a regional nurse and providing support to the mothers, it is important to understand that the mothers had to endure suffering and conflict prior to their evacuation of the disaster area.
