Responding to a radiological crisis: Experiences of British foreign office staff in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown

TY - JOUR

T1 - Responding to a radiological crisis

T2 - Experiences of British foreign office staff in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear meltdown

AU - Bakhshi, Savita

AU - Lynn-Nicholson, Rebecca

AU - Jones, Bryony

AU - Amlôt, Richard

AU - Greenberg, Neil

AU - Rubin, G. James

PY - 2014/9/12

Y1 - 2014/9/12

N2 - Results: Participants described their crisis work as stressful, exciting, and something of which they were proud. Aside from disaster-specific stressors, factors identified as stressful included unclear roles, handing over work to new personnel, being assigned to office-based work, feeling that work was not immediately beneficial to the public, not taking good-quality breaks, and difficulties with relatives. The radiation risk provoked mixed feelings, with most participants being reassured by contact with senior scientists.Conclusions: Interventions to safeguard the well-being of personnel during crisis work must consider the impact of a broad range of stressors.Objectives To identify factors that affected well-being among British embassy staff based in Japan after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 36 members of staff 8 to 9 months after the earthquake.

AB - Results: Participants described their crisis work as stressful, exciting, and something of which they were proud. Aside from disaster-specific stressors, factors identified as stressful included unclear roles, handing over work to new personnel, being assigned to office-based work, feeling that work was not immediately beneficial to the public, not taking good-quality breaks, and difficulties with relatives. The radiation risk provoked mixed feelings, with most participants being reassured by contact with senior scientists.Conclusions: Interventions to safeguard the well-being of personnel during crisis work must consider the impact of a broad range of stressors.Objectives To identify factors that affected well-being among British embassy staff based in Japan after the 2011 earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown.Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 36 members of staff 8 to 9 months after the earthquake.

KW - occupational health

KW - radiation

KW - stress

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84910154236&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/dmp.2014.98

DO - 10.1017/dmp.2014.98

M3 - Article

C2 - 25303327

AN - SCOPUS:84910154236

SN - 1935-7893

VL - 8

SP - 397

EP - 403

JO - Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

JF - Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

IS - 5

ER -