Socio-psychological Recovery in Post-nuclear Fukushima, Japan: Affective Reactions to Media Portrayal in Photographs

Kwesell, Allison; LeNoble, Chelsea A.

doi:10.1080/15551393.2021.1907191

Cited by 5 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Our study indicates that LTSDI is positively related to media connectedness. Such findings are consistent with past research—people's dependency on media increases when their ambiguity rises (Ball-Rokeach, 1973; Jung & Moro, 2014; Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021). When people continue to live with LTSDI, they may continue to have high media dependency and search for information across a wide array of sources (Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur, 1976).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…As Turner et al (2006) found anxiety to be a motivator for information seeking, persistent PTSD is likely to also motivate people to continuously monitor a disaster situation, especially as it remains ambiguous. Ball-Rokeach and Jung (2009) suggest a desire to understand a pervasively ambiguous situation in the immediate post-disaster context leads to greater reliance on mainstream media, which has been supported in multiple studies (Kim et al, 2004; Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021; Jung & Kwesell, 2021).…”

Section: Literature Review and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Long-term socio-psychological disaster impact after 8 years: Relationships between the persistent impact of the Fukushima disaster and individuals’ media and community connectedness

Kwesell,

Jung,

Mai

2023

International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters

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Residents of Fukushima Prefecture continue to face trauma after Japan's 2011 nuclear disaster. While there remains a substantial presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the prefecture, and the majority of literature tends to view PTSD as an individual psychological disease that can be ameliorated; there is little understanding about how individuals experiencing PTSD influence their communities over time. The present research employs Barton's collective stress theory and Ball-Rokeach et al.'s communication infrastructure theory to examine multilevel effects of individual-level trauma and offers a new term, long-term socio-psychological disaster impact (LTSDI). LTSDI modifies pre-existing notions of persistent PTSD to a neutral understanding of experiences of symptomology and various levels of individuals’ impacts on their communities. Survey research conducted in Fukushima eight years after the disaster and analyses employing structural equation modeling found individuals experiencing LTSDI can positively contribute to their communities through community connectedness, a measure of interpersonal storytelling, collective efficacy, and civic participation. Implications of the study are discussed.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Literature Review and Research Questionsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Long-term socio-psychological disaster impact after 8 years: Relationships between the persistent impact of the Fukushima disaster and individuals’ media and community connectedness

Kwesell,

Jung,

Mai

2023

International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters

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“…Photographs can indeed enforce a certain viewpoint, but how do disaster-survivors respond to distributed photographs of the situation they experienced? Kwesell and LeNoble (2021) examined this relationship in their study conducted six years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and found responses to be both visceral and complex, promoting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and PTG, a relationship that has yet to be explored in other research.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While various studies have found that photographs shared on social media can accelerate rumors and result in panic and fear (Naeem, 2021), others have found they can act as a conduit promoting constructive sharing and even community (Rafi et al, 2020). Furthermore, while impactful photographs of disasters in mainstream media have been found to elicit stimuli of a negative event slowing individuals’ internal recovery, they have also been found to offer a therapeutic quality that allows viewers to process past trauma and even incite post-traumatic growth (PTG; Kwesell & LeNoble, 2021). Despite these findings, there is a gap in the research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Photographs and COVID-19: The therapeutic quality of shared narratives and collective memory

Kwesell

Wu²,

Lama³

et al. 2023

Communication and the Public

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Mainstream media photographically documented intimate and difficult moments of COVID-19 while also publishing hopeful images. These spanned from intubation, death, and facial bruising from personal protective equipment to Italians harmonizing in song and nightly balcony cheers for US health workers. At the same time, people were documenting and sharing their own experiences across social media. Past research suggests impactful photographs elicit stimuli that can slow people’s psychological recovery or offer a therapeutic quality that incites post-traumatic growth. Despite a large body of research that examines visual framing with media photographs, few studies examine the ways in which viewing photographs of disaster influences disaster survivors, and to our knowledge, no studies examine this during an unfolding trauma in a world in which the survivors themselves digitally archive the event through images. The present panel longitudinal study seeks to investigate this gap by better understanding the impact of COVID-19 photographs through employing a visual self-narrative approach and photo-elicitation interviews. Fifty-seven participants were recruited in May 2020 and 35 repeat participants were recruited in May 2021. The research examines (1) reasons people vulnerable to the pandemic may find viewing and sharing photographs important, (2) responses to shared images, and (3) changes people experience in their relationship to photographs over time. Findings suggest that participants have a drive to share their experiences and learn about others, while pandemic photographs in themselves hold more of a negative impact for the viewer as they are experiencing the pandemic, which, over time, lessens and trends toward more positive nostalgia.

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“…Intervention workshops could be conducted to initiate local people and evacuees to discuss and share with one another. If sharing is not possible through talking or writing, other forms of media including photography could be engaged (see Kwesell 2020;Kwesell and LeNoble, 2021). Past research found that a photography workshop in a coastal village helped residents cope with disaster (Kwesell 2020) and perhaps a similar model could be employed to help residents and evacuees cope with one another.…”

Section: Limitations and Suggestions For Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changed Communities and Sources of Information: A Qualitative Study about Recovery in Post-nuclear Fukushima, Japan

Kwesell¹,

Jung²

2021

International Journal of Mass Emergencies & Disasters

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Japan's 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster are still in the recovery process. Though buildings and infrastructure have been reconstructed, socio-psychological recoveries have been ongoing and indefinite. Residents from coastal villages along Fukushima Prefecture have dealt with mass deaths, loss of land, high exposure to radioactive nuclides, and forced evacuations, while communities across the entire prefecture have been altered by global perceptions and demographically with an influx of evacuees. This qualitative study examines long-form survey answers from 123 respondents from eight different areas of Fukushima. Findings suggest that in post-nuclear Fukushima, connection to individuals in the changed community environment, community support, and the ability to confide in neighbors about experiences has been hindered. In addition, a presence of internal stigma, tensions concerning unfair compensation, uneasiness about a lack of information from media, a hesitation to talk about the disaster, and continued indicators of PTSD remain. Though past research has examined a global Fukushima stigma and the effects it has on residents, until now none has examined the internal stigmas residents have toward each other and the effects they have on the community. Through examining the social situation in post-nuclear Fukushima, this research stands as an important contribution to better understanding the social and socio-psychological strains that may be hindering a full recovery from disaster.

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Socio-psychological Recovery in Post-nuclear Fukushima, Japan: Affective Reactions to Media Portrayal in Photographs

Cited by 5 publications

References 52 publications

Long-term socio-psychological disaster impact after 8 years: Relationships between the persistent impact of the Fukushima disaster and individuals’ media and community connectedness

Long-term socio-psychological disaster impact after 8 years: Relationships between the persistent impact of the Fukushima disaster and individuals’ media and community connectedness

Photographs and COVID-19: The therapeutic quality of shared narratives and collective memory

Changed Communities and Sources of Information: A Qualitative Study about Recovery in Post-nuclear Fukushima, Japan

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