Capacity development of rehabilitation response in disasters: A training development and evaluation

Abstract

【Background】 The elderly and people with disabilities require extra considerations during disasters, and efforts to reduce mortality and prevent secondary health damage after a disaster are also required. The Japan Disaster Rehabilitation Assistance Team was organized in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake 2011, and has since been working as a support group that combines both medical and welfare functions in the events of a domestic disaster. On the other hand, the rehabilitation profession as a whole is not well informed about the roles and functions of rehabilitation in times of disaster, and raising awareness and developing response capacity are urgent issues. This study aims to evaluate the Disaster Rehabilitation Assistance Game and the Disaster Rehabilitation assistance team Honbu Start Up Game based on the gaming simulation theory and the draft manual for public health activities by rehabilitation professionals and the draft public health textbook for rehabilitation professionals during disasters. 【Method】 Descriptive statistics of self-administered questionnaires after the training. 【Results】 62 DREAG participants and 98 REHSUG participants completed the questionnaires (response rate: 98.4% and 95.1%, respectively). The median and interquartile range of participants’ ratings of whether each game was meaningful were 9 (8, 9) and 8 (7, 9), DREAG and REHSUG respectively. The main learning focus of each game was also generally highly evaluated. 【Conclusion】 The results suggest that both games are useful in increasing rehabilitation professionals’ interest in disasters, and obtaining basic knowledge about the roles of rehabilitation professionals as well as responding to various situations under disasters.