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How Evacuees Obtained Health Care Information After the Great East Japan Earthquake: A Qualitative Interview Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2017

Haruka Ota ,
Kikuko Miyazaki  and
Takeo Nakayama
Haruka Ota*
Affiliation:
Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan
Kikuko Miyazaki
Affiliation:
Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan
Takeo Nakayama
Affiliation:
Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Kyoto, Japan
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Haruka Ota, Department of Health Informatics, Kyoto University School of Public Health, Yoshida Konoe, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan (e-mail: harukaota0128@gmail.com).
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Abstract

Objective

To explore how evacuees obtained health care information at their evacuation destinations after the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Methods

We conducted semi-structured interviews of 11 evacuees who moved to City A in Kyoto Prefecture following the Great East Japan Earthquake. The interviews explored how the evacuees obtained health care information, including the main factors of influence. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed to identify trends by using the constant comparative method.

Results

Four categories emerged from 6 concepts. Mother-children evacuees and family evacuees tended to obtain health care information in different ways. Family evacuees had moved as a family unit and had obtained their health care information from local neighbors. Mother-children evacuees were mothers who had moved with their children, leaving behind other family members. These evacuees tended to obtain information from other mother-children evacuees. At the time of evacuation, we found 2 factors, emotions and systems, influencing how mother-children evacuees obtained health care information.

Conclusions

We found 2 different ways of obtaining health care information among mother-children evacuees and other evacuees. At the time of evacuation, 2 factors, emotions and systems, influenced how mother-children evacuees obtained health care information. Community-building support should be a priority from an early stage after a disaster for health care management. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:729–734)

Keywords

Great East Japan Earthquakehealth care informationqualitative studyevacuees
Type
Original Research
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 11 , Issue 6 , December 2017 , pp. 729 - 734
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2017 

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Footnotes

*

These authors contributed equally to this work.

References

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