The Association between Utilization of Media Information and Current Health Anxiety Among the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Disaster Evacuees

Masatsugu Orui, Chihiro Nakayama, Yujiro Kuroda, Nobuaki Moriyama, Hajime Iwasa, Teruko Horiuchi, Takeo Nakayama, Minoru Sugita and Seiji Yasumura
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Masatsugu Orui: Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
Chihiro Nakayama: Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
Yujiro Kuroda: Center for Integrated Science and Humanities, Fukushima Medical University, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
Nobuaki Moriyama: Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
Hajime Iwasa: Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
Teruko Horiuchi: Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan
Takeo Nakayama: Department of Health Informatics, School of Public Health, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Minoru Sugita: Toho University, Tokyo 143-8540, Japan
Seiji Yasumura: Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima 960-1295, Japan

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: The 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima was not only a health disaster, but also an information disaster. Although media can promote health communication following disasters, studies have revealed associations between media information and negative psychological reactions. To clarify the relationship between media utilization and current health anxiety due to radiation exposure, a cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in Fukushima. We selected 2000 subjects from evacuation (i.e., 500) and non-evacuation (i.e., 1500) areas by two-stage stratified random sampling. As the independent variable, participants were asked about current health anxiety due to radiation exposure at the time of answering the questionnaire. For utilization of media about radiation exposure, local media, national media, Internet media, public broadcasts, and public relations information from local government were set as the dependent variables. Questionnaire data were analyzed by evacuation type (i.e., forced/voluntary). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis, the use of public relations information was significantly associated with lower anxiety for the forced evacuees (odds ratio: 0.72; 95% confidence interval: 0.56–0.93). Our findings highlight the importance of public relations information from local government in terms of it being associated with lower current health anxiety, and this could potentially aid in preparing for future disasters.

Keywords: Fukushima nuclear accident; mass media; Internet; public health practice; community mental health services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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