東日本大震災のスポーツへの意識および参加行動に対する影響

抄録

We had previously investigated awareness of, and participation in sports among residents in a region of Sendai city before the Tohoku Region Pacific Coast Earthquake. The purpose of the present study was to investigate how the disaster had influenced the sports awareness and participation of residents. We interviewed adults in 2006 and 2011, using the same questionnaire that had been designed to measure awareness of sports. We also counted new participants who responded to leaflets advertising a physical activity program in the same region during the period from 2007 to 2011. The results of the questionnaire revealed no significant change as a result of the disaster except for an item inquiring about the preferred frequency of exercise per week. After the earthquake, this frequency decreased significantly (p=0.020). The percentage of new participants relative to total leaflets distributed also decreased significantly from 2.1% to 0.0% (p=0.031). These results imply that public awareness of sports services for maintenance of health had not been influenced by the disaster. However, the disaster might have led to a decrease in the time spent on sports activity and the proportion of individuals newly participating in sports services.