Psychological Effects of Disaster Relief Activities on Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Personnel Following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

Associations between outcome variables and independent variables (age, gender, military rank, length of deployment, and exposure to dead bodies) were measured with univariate analyses and subsequent multiple logistic regression analyses.

Questionnaire

Posttraumatic stress responses and general psychological distress were assessed using the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the K10 scales

Subjects were JGSDF personnel who were dispatched from the northern Kyushu district—an unaffected region—for

Situation where widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses have occurred which exceeded the ability of the affected organisation, community or society to respond and recover using its own resources.

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relief activities in the Minamisanriku town, Miyagi prefectures.A total of 606 personnel took part in our study.Most of the subjects were not directly affected by the Situation where widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses have occurred which exceeded the ability of the affected organisation, community or society to respond and recover using its own resources.

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; however, the families of two participants were directly affected.

Self-report questionnaire was administered to 606 JGSDF personnel one month after completing the

Situation where widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses have occurred which exceeded the ability of the affected organisation, community or society to respond and recover using its own resources.

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relief missionThis study was conducted as part of a mandatory self-report health survey for all JGSDF personnel engaged in this Situation where widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses have occurred which exceeded the ability of the affected organisation, community or society to respond and recover using its own resources.

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relief activity; therefore, it was an on-therecord (i.e., non-anonymous) survey, and the

Actions taken during or immediately after a disaster in order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety and meet the basic subsistence needs of the people affected.

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rate was 100%.

Clarify the psychological effects of

Situation where widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses have occurred which exceeded the ability of the affected organisation, community or society to respond and recover using its own resources.

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relief activities on Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) personnel following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake

It is difficult to predict long-term outcomes from a cross-sectionaldesign. Further, our study sample was limited to one convenient troop and does not represent the entire JGSDF or all

Situation where widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses have occurred which exceeded the ability of the affected organisation, community or society to respond and recover using its own resources.

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workers.

 The authors did not find any factors that caused psychological distress following

Situation where widespread human, material, economic or environmental losses have occurred which exceeded the ability of the affected organisation, community or society to respond and recover using its own resources.

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relief activities in the multivariate analyses, our findings are consistent with previous reports that younger personnel are more vulnerable to general psychological distress and that relief workers exposed to dead bodies are prone to posttraumatic responses.

The JGSDF Fukuoka Hospital Ethics Committee approved the study protocol.