The Great East Japan Earthquake and subsequent nuclear power plant accident caused multidimensional and long-term effects on the mental health condition of people living in Fukushima. In this article, focusing on the influence of the nuclear disaster, we present an overview of studies regarding the psychosocial consequences of people in Fukushima. Studies revealed that the experiences of the explosions at the plant as well as the tsunami are deeply embedded in their memory, leading to posttraumatic responses. Chronic physical diseases, worries about livelihood, lost jobs, lost social ties, and concerns about compensation were also associated with posttraumatic responses. Furthermore, the radioactive fallout brought chronic anxiety regarding physical risks of radiation exposure to people, especially young mothers. People often have different opinions about the radiation risk and their own future plans, resulting in a reduction in the resilience that communities and families had before the disaster. In addition, such weakened community resilience may produce a significant increase in disasterrelated suicide in Fukushima. Specific social issues, such as "radiation stigma" among the public and self-stigma among evacuees, that are never seen with other natural disasters also increased in Fukushima.

Workplace violence (WPV) in healthcare settings has drawn attention for over 20 years, yet few studies have investigated the association between WPV and psychological consequences. Here, we used a cross-sectional design to investigate (1) the 12-month prevalence of workplace violence (WPV), (2) the characteristics of WPV, and (3) the relationship between WPV and burnout/secondary traumatic stress among 599 mental healthcare nurses (including assistant nurses) from eight hospitals. Over 40% of the respondents had experienced WPV within the past 12 months. A multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that occupation and burnout were each significantly related to WPV. Secondary traumatic stress was not related to WPV. Our results suggest that WPV may be a long-lasting and/or cumulative stressor rather than a brief, extreme horror experience and may reflect specific characteristics of psychological effects in psychiatric wards. A longitudinal study measuring the severity and frequency of WPV, work-and non-work-related stressors, risk factors, and protective factors is needed, as is the development of a program that helps reduce the psychological burden of mental healthcare nurses due to WPV. healthcare settings occurs in psychiatric departments, emergency services, polyclinics/waiting rooms, and geriatric units [8].According to a review of WPV in psychiatric wards over the past 20 years, studies of WPV have examined mainly its occurrence rate, risk assessment, and risk management; fewer investigations have assessed the physical and psychological consequences of WPV [2]. WPV may cause not only physical injuries but also psychological impacts, resulting in higher rates of fear or anxiety, anger, insecurity, depression, emotional exhaustion, suicidal thoughts, post-traumatic stress symptoms, guilt, self-blame, and shame [2,8]. The consequences of WPV include decreased job satisfaction, increased intent to leave the organization, and lowered health-related quality of life [2].WPV and its consequences among nurses in Japan have been described [10,[16][17][18][19][20]. Of respondents to previous surveys, 33-47% of the nurses had experienced WPV during the prior 12 months [16][17][18]. The proportion of nurses who experienced physical aggression and verbal abuse was significantly high in psychiatric wards [16]. Another study showed that nurses who had encountered verbal abuse or violence by patients in psychiatry departments had experienced severe psychological impacts such as secondary traumatic stress and low satisfaction with family support [10]. The characteristics of WPV itself in Japan have been evaluated, but few studies have examined the psychological effects of WPV in detail.Burnout is defined as a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed [21]. It is characterized by three dimensions: feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one's job or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced pro...

Aim: Prolonged periods of instability in terms of living environment can lead to a serious increase in mental health issues among disaster-affected individuals. The aim of this study was to assess long-term trends in mental health among adult residents in a nuclear-disaster-affected area.Methods: Mail-based, self-administered questionnaire surveys were conducted three times (T1-T3), targeting all residents registered with the municipalities in the evacuation zone in Fukushima prefecture at the time of the disaster. Age-adjusted prevalences of the following were analyzed by sex: risk of psychological distress by the Kessler 6-item Scale, post-traumatic stress by the Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, and problem drinking by CAGE.Results: The numbers of respondents and response rates were: 73 568, 40.7% (T1); 55 076, 29.9% (T2); and 46 386, 25.0% (T3). Compared with normal Japanese levels in non-disaster settings (4.7%), the prevalence of general psychological distress by Kessler 6-item Scale ≥ 13 was still high 3 years after the event in both men (11.4%) and women (15.8%). Although the age-adjusted prevalence of psychological distress and post-traumatic stress Conclusion:Our results suggest that long-term interventions focused on post-traumatic stress as well as other mental health problems are strongly needed for disaster-affected individuals.

Global Collaboration on Traumatic Stress (GC-TS) (2020) Screening for consequences of trauma-an update on the global collaboration on traumatic stress,