A Psychometric Evaluation of Preserving Cultural Heritage as a Form of Psychosocial Support

Abstract

It is now widely recognized that the rescue of local historical materials following a disaster can be an effective tool for the recovery of individuals and communities. After the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, a local NPO rescued and restored historical heritage that had been owned by the victims. This study hypothesizes that such activities constitute psychosocial support as recommended by the WHO for survivors. Our informants were people owning damaged historical materials that had been rescued by the NPO. In view of the short-comings of conventional methodology in assessing the merits of psychosocial support, this study applies a psychometric evaluation of how the informants perceived their rescue by the NPO, using a semi-structured interview survey method with a quasi-experimental design. Of the 20 informants, 19 were over 65 years old. Interviews were conducted by clinical psychologists who were not involved in the NPO’s activities so as to ensure an independent evaluation. The results revealed that those who experienced their rescue within three months after the disaster had positive images of the rescue and surrounding events, whereas informants whose rescue was delayed tended to have negative impressions, despite the objective fact that it was the former group who had all suffered greater damage from the disaster. Those informants who succeeded in changing their overwhelmingly negative experiences into positive images also showed a markedly higher rate of engagement with their communities, which can be interpreted as showing higher resilience.