Development of a method for analysing victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF): part I proposal for the disaster ICF

Abstract

Thirteen years have elapsed since the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 2011. Approximately 30,000 evacuees remain. Various reconstructions in the disaster area are currently ongoing. More than 20 years have been taken to complete the decommissioning the nuclear reactors. This study aims to develop a method for studying and following up on the health and health-related states of the victims and the disaster area using the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). We adopted two newspapers with adequate personal information from the interviewees and qualitatively analysed the content of interviews of 1,910 victims (1,116 male and 794 female; age range: 1–98). The responses of each interviewed victim were coded into three components of ICF (Body Functions, Activities and Participation and Environmental Factors). We obtained 7,812 ICF codes describing the victims’ conditions and the disaster area. Of these, 55 high-frequency codes were quantitatively selected. They characteristically represented suffering caused by different elements of the calamity: the earthquake, the tsunami and the nuclear power plant accident. We noted the shortcomings of ICF during disasters, developed a new method, proposed the idea of a ‘disaster ICF’ in the process and discussed its applications.

Keywords

• Disaster ICF
• earthquake
• newspaper interview
• nuclear power plant accident
• tsunami
• Joe Thomas