Parenting in Fukushima City in the post-disaster period: short-term strategies and long-term perspectives

Abstract

Growing evidence indicates the adverse psychological and welfare consequences of nuclear power accidents particularly among parents of small children. However, little has been published about the public health experiences of and practical countermeasures to deal with such consequences for parents of small children in the aftermath of disasters. Based on our past research efforts to develop parenting support programmes in Fukushima City, we describe here the discussions and resulting strategies that developed from collaborative efforts between university researchers and public health nurses after the Fukushima nuclear plant accident caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. The processes presented here may be useful to improve national and international preparedness to protect the health of parents and children in future nuclear disasters.

Keywords: Fukushima; Great East Japan Earthquake; Japan; nuclear accident; parenting; programme development; tsunami.