The ongoing activities of livelihood support counselors following nuclear disaster under the COVID-19 restrictions: A preliminary survey

Masatsugu Orui; Maiko Fukasawa; Naoko Horikoshi; Yuriko Suzuki; Norito Kawakami

doi:10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100107

The ongoing activities of livelihood support counselors following nuclear disaster under the COVID-19 restrictions: A preliminary survey

Public Health Pract (Oxf). 2021 Nov:2:100107. doi: 10.1016/j.puhip.2021.100107. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Authors

Masatsugu Orui^{1

2}, Maiko Fukasawa³, Naoko Horikoshi¹, Yuriko Suzuki^{1

4}, Norito Kawakami³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public Health, Fukushima Medical University School of Medicine, Fukushima, 960-1295, Japan.
² Sendai City Mental Health and Welfare Center, Sendai, 980-0845, Japan.
³ Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan.
⁴ National Institute of Mental Health, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tokyo, 187-8553, Japan.

Abstract

Background: This preliminary study aims to understand the state of support provided in the evacuation areas of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, during the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) restriction.

Methods: A self-administered survey was conducted with 18 livelihood support counselors from two Social Welfare Councils in November 2020. We investigated the number of consultations since the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of telephonic consultation as opposed to in-person consultations through visits to counselees' homes.

Results: Counselors have been continued offering supports to their counselees even under the COVID-19 restrictions, in fact, fifty percent of counselors have increased the consultations. Although some counselors had a sense of unease or concern about telephonic consultation due to the inability to see their non-verbal expressions, there were some advantages of telephonic consultation, in that the counselors were able to have longer sessions and listen more attentively to severe issues.

Conclusions: Notably, livelihood support counselors in this study have increased the number of consultations while utilization telephonic consultations, despite the adverse conditions created by the COVID-19 restriction. Moreover, certain advantages of telephonic consultation instead of in-person consultation have been identified. It may be an effective support method avoiding in-person contacts, that also considers infection-prevention measures.

Keywords: COVID-19; Disaster-related support; Mental health; Nuclear disaster; Telephonic consultation.