2022 Volume 31 Issue 3 Pages 369-379
To clarify women’s health problems in the evacuation shelters provided after occurrence of the disaster, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 mature women between July and November in 2014 (three years after the disaster). The interviews covered all sorts of hardships of life in evacuation shelters that prevented them from keeping their own health. The Berelson method was used to definitely analyze the proportions of physical, psychological and social women’s health problems. The results produced seven categories. There were one physical problem : [difficulty and relief in the problems peculiar to women such as care of menstruation] ; two psychological problems : [pain resulting from difficulty in being attentive to personal appearance as a woman] and [pressure and pain due to having no choice but to stay in the evacuation shelter not always safe] ; and four social problems : [life of evacuation shelter with fear of sexual assault on daughters], [worry about the effect of the disaster experience on daughters’ health], [desire to ensure an ordinary life for daughters although the disaster destroyed the foundations of livelihood], and [endeavors to play the maternal role and the conflicts]. In the life of evacuation shelters, nursing care for coping with menstruation and modifying the environment to keep women’s spirit of self-respect is needed. From the social aspect of women’s health in the evacuation shelters, it is necessary to support the women’ conflict as mothers. In consideration of the fear of sexual assault on daughters, health education concerning the risk of sexual assault should be provided at ordinary times.
