Delayed recovery of caregivers from social dysfunction and psychological distress after the Great East Japan Earthquake

BackgroundIn April 2011, two hundred and eighty residents who were suffering from intellectual disabilities and their eighty caregivers at nine facilities in Fukushima were evacuated and moved to Chiba, Japan after the Great East Japan Earthquake. We investigated the impact of the evacuation after the earthquake on the caregiver burden.MethodThere were 41 participants from Chiba as a reference group and 32 participants from Fukushima as a case group included. Data were collected regarding their demographics and the General Health Questionnaires 12 (GHQ-12) score for both groups in two different points.ResultsThe evacuation was linked to a follow-up GHQ-12 global score ≥ 3 (RR=4.52, 95%CI; 1.32-15.47). There was no significant improvement of the GHQ-12 global score in the case group from Fukushima for the follow-up data compared to the baseline data. Social dysfunction had continued in the case group from the baseline data (p<0.01) during the follow-up period (p<0.001). A statistically significant difference was noted for the case group from Fukushima regarding psychological distress in the follow-up data (p<0.01), which was not found in the baseline data (p=0.07).LimitationsThe sample size was limited to a non-randomized and unmasked sample of 73 patients. No causal relationship could be determined due to the cross-sectional nature of the study.ConclusionsThe caregivers from Fukushima exhibited more psychiatric morbidity, which persisted for the duration of their evacuation after the earthquake. It is important to provide long-term support for such caregivers who have been evacuated after a major disaster.