Aim: To map theories, frameworks, and models underpinning grief care in disaster settings and to describe how they have been applied.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review using the Arksey and O’Malley framework. PubMed, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Ichushi-Web were searched for English- and Japanese-language literature from inception to 24 December 2025. We included original studies, reviews, and commentaries that explicitly described a theory, framework, or model guiding grief care for disaster-affected people. Two reviewers independently screened records and extracted data.

Results: A total of 773 records were identified, and 17 articles were included. Publications increased after major disasters and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Approaches clustered into three groups: (1) theory-informed grief care (the Dual Process Model, Ambiguous Loss Theory, and Tasks of Mourning); (2) community- and public health–oriented frameworks (three-tiered support models and the Compassionate Communities framework); and (3) psychotherapeutic approaches for persistent grief: a cognitive model of prolonged grief disorder, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and integrative approaches. Across groups, these frameworks were used to address disaster-related constraints by organizing stratified care pathways from universal support to specialist treatment, including remote delivery, cultural adaptation, and coordination between professionals and community members.

Conclusions: Disaster grief care draws on multiple theories across individual, family, community, and clinical levels, yet a unifying theory that explicitly incorporates disaster contexts is lacking. Nursing research in this area can help fill this gap, with a key next step being to advance situation-specific theory development of disaster grief care and to evaluate feasibility, implementation, and cultural fit.

Aim: The Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011, caused an accident at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP). The damage caused by the combination of earthquake, tsunami, and radiation required mass evacuation of the local population. The evacuation to shelters is well known, but the grief that disaster victims experienced is not widely known. This paper considers the reasons for the lack of acknowledgment of the grief of disaster victims following the disaster.

Methods: After a literature search revealed articles on post-disaster grief, this narrative research method involved the author doing a narrative summary of two forms of grief encountered among disaster victims. The author then reflected on the implications for nursing practice.

Results: The disaster victims experienced complex grief. Those who lost their homes and loved ones in the tsunami immediately following the earthquake felt their suffering was insignificant and were reluctant to speak openly about their grief. Some disaster victims attempted to soothe their emotional pain and anguish by dismissing their own suffering as insignificant. Moreover, those who worked at the Fukushima-Daiichi NPP and lost colleagues in the tsunami were unable to express their grief, owing to the stigma of being associated with the disaster.

Conclusions: Some disaster victims minimized their own suffering and sadness by comparing it with that of other victims. Others were hesitant to speak of their grief owing to the stigma of being associated with the disaster. Disaster nursing should be provided with an awareness that bereavement has profound emotional effects on those affected.

The Noto Peninsula Earthquake, which struck on January 1, 2024, had a magnitude of 7.6. It resulted in 698 deaths and 1,407 injuries. As the earthquake occurred in a rural area of the peninsula, the isolation of the affected region seriously impacted evacuation and recovery efforts. As part of a larger research project to clarify the impact of the Noto Peninsula Earthquake on the health and lives of those affected, this report discusses the author’s perspective on the grief experienced by victims. Although the extent of the damage, the attributes of the victims and bereavement all influence the grief caused by the earthquake, every resident was affected by the disaster in some way. It is crucial to provide safe spaces where individuals can express their grief and access grief care.

Disaster-associated grief extends beyond bereavement and includes displacement, disrupted care, moral injury, and prolonged uncertainty. These cascading consequences affect survivors, communities, and nurses who remain embedded in communities throughout recovery. This article frames post-disaster grief as a social justice issue, shaped by cultural norms, institutional responses, and structural inequities that influence whose suffering is recognized and supported. Using a social justice lens, this article outlines nursing roles in advocacy, workforce support, and equitable access to psychosocial services, arguing that centering grief in disaster nursing is essential for ethical care, community recovery, and workforce sustainability.

The 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in Liberia exposed nurses to unprecedented clinical, emotional, and moral challenges. Beyond the physical risks of infection, Liberian nurses bore a profound and largely unacknowledged burden of grief as they witnessed repeated patient deaths, lost colleagues and family members, and delivered care under extreme isolation and fear. This article examines grief as a central yet hidden consequence of front-line nursing during the Ebola crisis, drawing on narrative accounts, professional reflections, and documented experiences from Liberian nurses. It highlights the multiple dimensions of grief—personal, professional, collective, and moral—and how these intersected with stigma, inadequate protection, and disrupted care giving norms. Despite these losses, nurses demonstrated remarkable resilience, transforming grief into solidarity, advocacy, and continued service. Recognizing and addressing grief is essential for rebuilding resilient health systems. Integrating psycho-social support, grief counseling, and memorialization into emergency preparedness is critical to safeguarding the well-being of nurses in future epidemics.

Education is a key strategy in disaster preparedness and response. The more we learn about disasters, physiological and mental health “injuries,” the greater the chance for positive health outcomes. Nurses need to be competent and confident in disaster-related skills. Disaster events affect all people, to some degree, both physically and mentally. Nurses and nurse leaders need to take care of themselves so that they can effectively care for others.

The older adult population is increasing globally, and more older adults are being affected by environmental disasters annually. Older adults are already more vulnerable to disasters, including feelings of grief. Many older adults have domestic pet companions whom they rely on for different types of companionship and support, making evacuation and post-disaster needs more complex. This exploratory study evaluates the feelings and needs of older community-dwelling adults in North Carolina relating to disasters. Domestic pet ownership was reported among nearly 38% of research participants. All the pet owners reported they would have a challenging time evacuating without their pets. Nurses can play a critical role in advocating for and facilitating the coordination of pet companion evacuation plans and post-disaster support care.

Grief is a universal yet individualised experience that has or will affect everyone at some point in a lifetime. However, the increasing frequency and severity of both natural and man-made disasters have resulted in prolonged or inadequately managed grief, associated with a secondary public health mental health crisis. After over thirty years of combined experience in nursing, emergency response, disaster management and healthcare education across diverse global context the authors seek to answer the question: How can we ensure that the next generation of emergency and disaster healthcare professionals are not only clinically skilled, but are equally if not more importantly capable of delivering culturally competent and safe care to the bereaved during the chaos of disasters? We posit that effective disaster response needs to move beyond the reliance on technical skills alone, and advocate for the integration of the soft skills of cultural competency (cultural humility, cultural grace, cultural reflexivity), empathy and adaptability that transcends geography, racial boundaries and culture. Nurses, mostly present throughout every stage of a disaster response, are uniquely positioned to advocate for and advance culturally appropriate care to the bereaved during disasters. By so doing, nurses can ensure that individuals and communities feel culturally safe to grieve amidst the challenges and chaos of disasters.

Aim: This study explores the beliefs underlying disaster nursing activities provided by public health nurses (PHNs) dispatched from outside Fukushima to provide long-term support to municipalities affected by the Fukushima–Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.

Methods: A qualitative descriptive research design was used. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five PHNs who provided approximately two years of support to the affected municipalities. The interview transcripts were analyzed using qualitative methods. Repeated readings of the narratives identified frequently appearing phenomena, which were categorized at progressively higher levels of abstraction. Subcategories of similar phenomena were grouped and assigned category names.

Results: Five key categories of beliefs emerged regarding supporting PHNs’ disaster support activities: (1) advising disaster-affected PHNs on improving the quality of support for affected residents; (2) facilitating health activities led by disaster-affected residents; (3) reflecting on the advantages and challenges of long-term disaster support; (4) drawing strength from community support to sustain their activities; and (5) upholding a professional philosophy to guide their disaster support efforts.

Conclusions: Amid ongoing evacuations, the supporting PHNs prioritized direct support for disaster victim PHNs, while considering the needs of affected residents. The supporting PHNs remained committed to helping disaster victim PHNs progress in their roles, adapting their methods and content as necessary. Guided by professional pride, the supporting PHNs demonstrated a strong belief in the value of providing long-term disaster support.

Purpose: In March 2011, the Great East Japan Earthquake triggered a complex disaster––an earthquake, a tsunami, and a nuclear accident––leading to the collapse of medical care in affected regions, particularly Fukushima. Through interviews with nursing managers who experienced this crisis, we captured their evolving perceptions of the situation in Fukushima, from the aftermath to the present, and identified key issues.

Method: We conducted semi-structured interviews with six nursing managers from medical institutions located within a 20–30 km radius of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed through qualitative data analysis.

Results: The transcripts contained 119 statements about the nursing managers’ perceptions. These were organized into a timeline of four periods and grouped into eleven categories. Main themes included 1) the dilemma of having to choose between obeying evacuation orders and maintaining professional duty to protect patients’ lives and 2) the efforts to develop a positive outlook on recovery from the earthquake and the nuclear accident in the March 2011 disaster.

Discussion: The nursing managers acknowledged that, throughout the crisis situations they faced, they maintained a strong sense of professional duty and forged close bonds with medical staff, from the initial disaster through to the present. The nursing managers' assessments of the challenges they faced at Fukushima offer salient lessons for nurses today as they prepare for future disasters. These points are: 1) assessing individual decisions about evacuation in disaster scenarios; 2) creating work environments that allow staff to return to their homes; 3) developing human resources that reflect the unique regional needs; and 4) envisioning medical plans tailored to local characteristics.

Aim: Mothers raising infants play a crucial role as primary stakeholders and decision-makers in disaster preparedness. However, there is insufficient education about household disaster preparedness targeting such mothers. Proper preparedness by mothers for emergencies significantly impacts the health and survival of the mother and infant. Enhancing stakeholders’ disaster response capabilities may effectively increase resilience at the household and community levels. This study enables mothers raising infants to operationalize their disaster preparedness through educational interventions.

Methods: From the perspective of preparedness contributing to maintaining health during disasters, the researcher developed a disaster preparedness education program on the basis of the Health Belief Model framework. The study targeted 24 mothers, who were divided into an intervention group of 13 and a control group of 11, raising their first child in the Tokyo metropolitan area. To operationalize preparedness, the intervention group participated in an educational program consisting of pre-learning and interactive online workshops in small groups. To compare the intervention and control groups at four time points before and after the intervention, repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted with a binary placement, measuring the intervention effects on knowledge, perception, and behavior related to disaster preparedness.

Results: This study observed an interaction in scores related to “behavior about earthquake preparedness,” suggesting promotion of mothers’ household disaster preparedness behaviors.

Conclusions: The disaster education program proved effective in promoting disaster preparedness measures for mothers raising infants. Investing in and disseminating disaster education for households with infants is an effective measure to proactively reduce community vulnerabilities.

Aim: This study aimed to assess disaster preparedness awareness and actual preparedness among parents of children aged under 2 years in Japan and to identify associated sociodemographic factors.

Methods: The study was conducted in six wards of City A, a metropolitan area in Japan. Data were collected from 376 parents of children who underwent health check-ups at 3–4 months and 18 months between August 2023 and June 2024 through local government programs. Descriptive statistics were used to determine the number and percentage of respondents for each variable. Multiple regression analysis was performed, with overall disaster awareness scores as the dependent variable. Statistical significance was assumed at p < 0.05. Additionally, a heat map was created to compare disaster awareness across different attributes and identify patterns.

Results: Key factors associated with disaster preparedness awareness among parents were family discussions about what to do during a disaster (β = .121, p = .021), participation in community evacuation drills (β = .147, p = .003), and understanding the hazard map of the area in which they live (β = .198, p < .001).

Conclusions: The acquisition of information through opportunities for interpersonal communication and exposure to interpersonal influences affects disaster awareness. Because parents with infants and toddlers are highly interested in disaster preparedness, local governments should devise ways to reach this target group.

Aim: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between disaster prevention and community awareness and physical and mental health among residents of the Yunohira district of Yufuin town, Oita Prefecture, Japan. We also aimed to examine the factors that help prevent an accelerated population decline after a disaster.

Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey on residents of Yunohira district regarding their attributes, physical and mental health, disaster experience and prevention, and community awareness. We then performed statistical factor analysis on the collected data.

Results: The residents of the Yunohira area showed a high level of disaster awareness and strong attachment to their community. Although disasters appeared to have a lasting impact on their physical and mental health, those who had experienced a disaster actively engaged in self-care to overcome such challenges. Additionally, community attachment positively correlated with changes in health status, regardless of disaster experience. However, high disaster awareness and strong community attachment alone were found to be insufficient for implementing disaster preparedness actions.

Conclusions: The present findings suggest that strong community attachment may be associated with lower disaster-induced physical and mental fatigue. This attachment could be one of the reasons why the population decline did not accelerate even after repeated severe disasters. Furthermore, as the use of hazard maps, which are the initial step in disaster prevention actions, faces a number of obstacles, promoting the use of hazard maps that are easy for residents to use remains an urgent need.

Japan frequently experiences natural disasters, and immigrants are particularly vulnerable to disasters. This cross-sectional study aimed to (1) identify demographic factors associated with risk perception, self-efficacy, and two types of disaster preparedness: cognitive (awareness of information and connections) and behavioral (actual preparedness actions), and (2) examine the relationships between risk perception, self-efficacy, and disaster preparedness using the Risk Perception Attitude Framework, focusing on the moderating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between risk perception and disaster preparedness among immigrants in Japan. Immigrants aged 18 or older were recruited through a self-administered online survey. The final data set included 196 responses (44.9% non-students). We used structural equation modeling to examine the relationships among variables. Unemployed immigrants reported higher risk perception, while those from high-income economies had lower risk perception. Disaster experience in Japan was linked to higher risk perception, self-efficacy, and behavioral preparedness. Unemployed individuals and those with very high Japanese proficiency showed greater cognitive preparedness, while renters had lower behavioral preparedness. Risk perception was significantly related to cognitive preparedness but not to behavioral preparedness. Self-efficacy predicted both cognitive and behavioral preparedness, and higher cognitive preparedness contributed to behavioral preparedness. Self-efficacy had a significant moderating effect: among those with low self-efficacy, the relationship between risk perception and behavioral preparedness was stronger. Thus, targeted interventions are required for less-prepared groups, including students, employed or self-employed individuals, those with language barriers, renters, and people without disaster experience. Limitations include the cross-sectional design and non-random sampling, which may affect the generalizability of the findings.

In 2025, 54 undergraduate nursing students at Tsuruga Nursing University participated in a two-day disaster nursing fieldwork project in a residential area of Tsuruga City, Fukui Prefecture. Working with local residents and the city’s Crisis Management Office, the students conducted community walks and interviews to assess disaster preparedness, with a focus on vulnerable populations. They identified environmental risks such as steep slopes, inadequate lighting, and drainage ditches, as well as social challenges such as limited participation in evacuation drills and insufficient support for people with dementia or mobility impairments. Back in the classroom, the students developed proposals that integrated both physical and psychosocial strategies, including environmental improvements, inclusive evacuation drills, and the incorporation of disaster education into community events. These proposals were shared with residents and experts, fostering dialogue and refinement based on local knowledge. The fieldwork underscored the value of experiential learning in disaster nursing education and promoted collaboration to strengthen community resilience.