information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
27 Janvier 2014
January 27, 2014
Almost 30 percent of children from the three prefectures in the Tohoku region that were the hardest hit by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami suffer from anxiety, depression and other mental problems, according to a health ministry study released Jan. 26.
“Many of the children have introvert problems, which are difficult to see at first,” said Takeo Fujiwara, a department director of the National Center for Child Health and Development. “We need to provide detailed assistance for them.”
Led by Shigeo Kure, pediatric professor at Tohoku University, the ministry's research team surveyed 178 children from Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, who were between the ages of 3 to 6 at the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake. The scientists interviewed the children and their parents or guardians around two years after the disaster.
The researchers later compared results from the Tohoku children with those of 82 children of the same age group in western Mie Prefecture.
After asking more than 100 questions designed to evaluate children’s mental conditions, the scientists discovered that 28 percent of the Tohoku children--4.5 times the number of infants in Mie Prefecture--suffered from serious introversion as a mental issue. The condition included signs of social withdrawal and feelings of anxiety and depression.
According to the findings, 21 percent of the Tohoku children displayed aggressive behavior or other indicators of “extroverted” behavior, while 26 percent had social adjustment disorders or other “comprehensive” problems.
The investigators said the children need to receive medical attention as soon as possible, and that some of them had multiple problems.
The study also showed that the houses of 25 percent of the children from the disaster-hit areas were destroyed or swept away by the tsunami, while homes of the same percentage were badly damaged.
Fifty-eight percent of the children had stayed at their relatives’ homes when the team carried out its investigation, and 31 percent said they used to live in evacuation shelters. Thirty-nine percent of the children had lived separately from their parents at least once after the disaster.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20140127p2a00m0na008000c.html
Almost three years have passed since the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the ensuing tsunami and nuclear disaster, but many are still suffering from their effects. The Mainichi Shimbun answers common questions readers may have about the state of psychological support for children from the disaster areas.
Question: Where do children from areas hit hard by the 2011 disasters receive mental health care?
Answer: Child psychiatrists have the most expertise on the needs of such children. They are psychiatrists trained in diagnosing and treating mental health problems that may arise in childhood.
However, according to a 2012 health ministry survey, the number of psychiatrists -- including child psychiatrists -- for every 100,000 people was 11.1 in Miyagi Prefecture, and 9.5 each in Iwate and Fukushima prefectures. These figures fell below the national average of 11.6. The triple disasters further aggravated this shortage, and while assistance has been provided from outside the three prefectures, more needs to be done to offer continuous psychiatric care in the region.
Question: Specifically how tight is the situation right now?
A: At Fukushima Medical University Hospital, for example, doctors are booked through the end of March, making it difficult for patients to receive care. In response, pediatricians and nonprofit organizations comprising volunteers with expertise are stepping in to help. In addition, the national government is dispatching greater numbers of school counselors to elementary and junior high schools.
Q: Does that mean the situation is getting better?
A: School counselors were increased starting in the 2011 academic year, with a total of 2,277 and 4,114 counselors newly working in the disaster areas in the 2011 and 2012 academic years, respectively; and 4,746 expected to have worked throughout the 2013 academic year ending in March.
However, an education ministry survey conducted in fiscal 2012 showed that the number of elementary and junior high school students refusing to go to school rose by 7.1 percent from the previous year to 2,511 in Miyagi Prefecture, and by 5 percent to 1,566 in Fukushima Prefecture.
The number dropped by 3.1 percent in Iwate Prefecture to 849 students, but according to the prefectural government, some 30 children per month consulted child psychiatrists for the first time between May and October 2013, a greater number than in the months immediately following the disasters. Such figures show the need for a reinforced framework for providing emotional support to children affected by the triple disasters. (Answers by Ryo Watanabe, Science and Environment News Department)
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140127p2a00m0na013000c.html
One in four children who were of nursery school age when the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck their homes in northeastern Japan needs medical care for their problematic behavior, a survey by a Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare study group has found.
The study team, headed by Tohoku University professor Shigeo Kure, attributed the children's behavior -- including violence and withdrawal -- to the deaths of their friends, separation from their parents and the life experiences they have gone through in disaster-hit areas, calling for swift measures for children in need of mental support.
The research group was joined by the National Center for Child Health and Development, Fukushima Medical University, the Miyagi Child and Family Mental Health Center, the Iwate Medical University, and other institutions. Takeo Fujiwara, a researcher at the National Center for Child Health and Development, released the study results at a symposium in Sendai on Jan. 26.
The survey covered 178 children and their parents and guardians who had been enrolled in classes for 3- to 5-year-old children at nursery schools in the three prefectures on March 11, 2011, when the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami struck the region, and who agreed to be surveyed. They underwent questionnaires and interviews between September 2012 and June 2013.
The nursery schools were located in Miyako, Rikuzentakata and Otsuchi in Iwate Prefecture; Kesennuma in Miyagi Prefecture; and Fukushima, Iwaki, Minamisoma and Tomioka in Fukushima Prefecture. A similar survey was also conducted in Mie Prefecture, which was not directly affected by the 2011 quake disaster, for comparison.
The questionnaire employed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), an internationally recognized method of identifying children's problem behavior through numerical comparisons of their behavior, which has been used by administrations, schools and medical institutions in Japan. The children were also interviewed for their state of mind by child psychiatrists and clinical psychologists while being taken care of mentally. Children who were diagnosed as being likely to develop problem behavior were further grouped into whether they were in need of mental care based on doctors' advice.
As a result, 25.9 percent of children in Iwate, Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures were diagnosed as being in need of medical care because of reasons including the loss of their friends to the disaster, partial collapse of their homes, witnessing the oncoming tsunami, and separation from their parents. In Mie Prefecture, only 8.5 percent of children -- or one-third the figure in disaster-hit prefectures -- were diagnosed as being in such need of medical care.
Specifically, children in disaster-hit regions suffered from dizziness, nausea, headaches, swearing and reticence, among other symptoms. If left as they were, they are likely to suffer from learning and development disorders, affecting their access to higher education and employment, according to experts.
It is rare for such small children to undergo a survey like this on the effects of natural disasters. Past similar surveys covered relatively older children in studying the relations between disasters and their mental problems.
Makiko Okuyama, a researcher at the National Center for Child Health and Development who took part in the survey, said, "The fact that so many children are in need of psychological care has surfaced for the first time through objective data. It is generally known that the number of children who are in need of care increases immediately after a quake-disaster, but the survey was conducted over 1 1/2 years after the 2011 quake-disaster -- which is of particular concern. It is necessary to develop a system to support children in their local communities with the help of medical specialists and others."
The study team will continue to conduct similar surveys on the same children over the next decade to keep track of their status.
January 27, 2014(Mainichi Japan)
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140127p2a00m0na011000c.html
Children in areas hit by the March 2011 triple disasters are displaying abnormal behavior, such as bullying those from areas hit by the nuclear crisis, highlighting their mental stress, reports to a national convention of the Japan Teachers Union (JTU) in Shiga Prefecture on Jan. 24-26 have revealed.
The reports also made it clear that for kids affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, emotional recovery may be difficult indeed.
"Go home to the nuclear zone," is one taunt flung at kids originally from near the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, according to one 27-year-old teacher at a junior high school in Fukushima Prefecture. "They probably don't mean much by it, but it really hurts the kids on the receiving end," she reported, and this kind of bullying has apparently become especially pronounced since last year.
Kids who transferred to new schools south of the nuclear plant area are also called "dappokusha" -- a term also used for North Korean defectors that literally means "person who left the north -- and some children are even shunned by their classmates.
"People have dark feelings about the nuclear plant, and in that kind of atmosphere they tend to direct their anger at those who used to live near the plant. The children are being influenced by that," the junior high teacher commented.
A third-grade elementary school teacher from a coastal community hit by the tsunami told the conference, "Even though the children saw so much death when the (3.11) disaster hit, they have no trouble telling other kids to 'die' or 'disappear.'"
The teacher added that there are children who, after their homes and schools were destroyed by the waves, spent their first two years of primary school living in temporary housing and going to class in space borrowed from other schools, such as gyms. "The stress has made it hard for some kids to relate to how other people feel," he said. "There are more and more children who can't seem to build human relationships. I'd say about half the kids in my class have issues that need to be dealt with as they grow up."
He further reported that the third graders he taught before the quake could form lines with no problem, but his current batch of kids can't.
"In the chaos after the disaster, schools couldn't enforce discipline at the level necessary, and the parents were so busy they couldn't keep a proper eye on them either. We have to do a real analysis of what causes the kids to act abnormally," he concluded.
At the end of the JTU conference on Jan. 26, the body released a statement declaring all the attendees "shared the view that it is of utmost importance to guarantee a vibrant learning experience for all our children."
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