カテゴリー「society, psychology, philosophy」
Author: E.J. Bromet, D. Goldgaber, G. Carlson et al.
Reference: Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. — 2000. — № 57. — P. 563–571.
Keywords: in utero infants, Kyiv, behavioral mental disorders
Abstract: Background The psychological effects of technological disasters have rarely been studied in children. This study assessed the aftermath of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster in children evacuated to Kyiv from the contaminated zone surrounding the nuclear power facility.
Methods In 1997, we evaluated three hundred 10- to 12-year-old children in Kyiv who were in utero or infants at the time of the disaster and who had resided near Chornobyl (evacuees) and 300 sex-matched homeroom classmates who had never lived in a radiation-contaminated area. Response rates were 92% (evacuees) and 85% (classmates). Data were obtained from children, mothers, and teachers using standard measures of well-being and risk factors for childhood psychopathology. The children also received physical examinations and basic blood tests.
Results The evacuees and classmates perceived their mental health similarly except for Chornobyl-related anxiety symptoms and perceived scholastic competence. No differences were found on the Iowa Conners’ Teacher Rating Scale. Although the physical examination and blood test results were normal, the evacuee mothers rated their children’s well-being as significantly worse, especially with respect to somatic symptoms on the Children’s Somatization Inventory and Child Behavior Checklist. The most important risk factors for these ratings were maternal somatization and Chornobyl-related stress.
Conclusions Given the multiple stressful experiences to which evacuee families were exposed, the small differences in the children’s self-reports suggest that there are protective factors in the lives of these children. The trauma experienced by the mothers was reflected in their perceptions of their children’s well-being, particularly somatic symptoms, but was not transmitted to the children themselves.
URL: http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=481617
Author: Annex J.
Reference: International Journal of Radiation Medicine, Special issue. — 2000. — Vol. 2–4, № 6–8. — P. 3–109.
Abstract: full text available online.
URL: http://www.unscear.org/docs/reports/annexj.pdf
Title: CHERNOBYL: THE FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN
Author: Zbigniew Jaworowski
Reference: International Journal of Low Radiation 2006 – Vol. 3, No.4 pp. 319 – 324
DOI: 10.1504/IJLR.2006.012006
Keywords: Belarus; Chernobyl, health consequences, irrational fear, radiophobia, Russia, Ukraine, UNSCEAR, contamination
Abstract: People living in contaminated regions of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine ‘need not live in fear of serious health consequences’ and UNSCEAR forecasts that ‘generally positive’ prospects for the future health of most individuals should prevail.
URL: http://ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_english/cherno-zbigniew_fear-06.htm
Title: Growing up in the shadow of Chornobyl: adolescents’ risk perceptions and mental health
Author: Bromet EJ, Guey LT, Taormina DP, Carlson GA, Havenaar JM, Kotov R, Gluzman SF
Reference: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology [2011, 46(5):393-402]
DOI: 10.1007/s00127-010-0203-5
Keywords:mental health
Abstract: Despite long-term research on risk perceptions of adults after ecological disasters, little is known about the legacy for the generation exposed to toxic elements as infants. This study examined Chornobyl-related risk perceptions and their relationship to mental health in adolescents raised in Kyiv in the aftermath of the accident.
URL:http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/20221882
Title: A 25 year retrospective review of the psychological consequences of the Chernobyl accident.
Author: Bromet EJ, Havenaar JM, Guey LT
Reference: Clinical Oncology (Royal College of Radiologists (Great Britain)) [2011, 23(4):297-305]
DOI: 10.1016/j.clon.2011.01.501
Keywords: psychological consequences, mental health
Abstract: The Chernobyl Forum Report from the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster concluded that mental health effects were the most significant public health consequence of the accident. This paper provides an updated review of research on the psychological impact of the accident during the 25 year period since the catastrophe began. First responders and clean-up workers had the greatest exposure to radiation. Recent studies show that their rates of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder remain elevated two decades later. Very young children and those in utero who lived near the plant when it exploded or in severely contaminated areas have been the subject of considerable research, but the findings are inconsistent. Recent studies of prenatally exposed children conducted in Kiev, Norway and Finland point to specific neuropsychological and psychological impairments associated with radiation exposure, whereas other studies found no significant cognitive or mental health effects in exposed children grown up. General population studies report increased rates of poor self-rated health as well as clinical and subclinical depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Mothers of young children exposed to the disaster remain a high-risk group for these conditions, primarily due to lingering worries about the adverse health effects on their families. Thus, long-term mental health consequences continue to be a concern. The unmet need for mental health care in affected regions remains an important public health challenge 25 years later. Future research is needed that combines physical and mental health outcome measures to complete the clinical picture.
URL:http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/21330117
Title: Radiation condition and its social and psychological aspects
Author: V.P.Antonov
Reference: Publication of “Knowledge” Society [общество “Знание”] of the Ukrainian SSR, 1987
Keywords: radiation, social aspect, psychological aspect, liquidation
Abstract: As a result of the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant a situation was developed that was unique in its scale and also in its historical experience, to which psychologically unprepared were not only the general public but also many experts, scientists, leaders.
URL: http://pripyat-city.ru/books/102-radiacionnaya-obstanovka.html
Author: G.M. Rumyantseva
Reference: Психиатрия и психофармакотерапия. (Psychiatry and psychopharmacotherapy), 2001
Abstract: Describes the characteristics and aftermaths of anthropogenic catastrophes in various aspects. Full text in Russian available on web.
URL: http://old.consilium-medicum.com/media/psycho/01_04/118.shtml
Author: N.B. Kholodova, L.A. Zhavoronkova, B.N. Ryzhov, G.D. Kuznetsova
Reference: Успехи геронтологии (The successes of Gerontology), 2007
For details contact the publisher: http://www.gersociety.ru/contacts/
Title: The concept of human functional state in Russian applied psychology
Author: Anna B. Leonova
Reference: Psychology in Russia: State of the Art, pp.517-538, 2009
Keywords: activity regulation, job analysis, microstructure of cognitive processes, human functional state, workability, fatigue, mental effort, stress, interruption effects, computerized work
Abstract: The concept of human functional states (HFS) is considered in the framework of activity regulation approach developed in Russian applied psychology. Aimed at the analysis of changes in regulatory mechanisms of on-going activity, structural methods for multilevel assessment of workers’ states are discussed. Three different strategies of data integration are proposed regarding the types of essential practical problems. Their usability is exemplified with the help of two empirical studies concerned with reliability of fire-fighters’ work in the Chernobyl Zone and effects of interruptions in computerized office environment. A general framework for applied HFS research is proposed in order to develop new ecologically valid psychodiagnostic procedures that can help to create efficient stress-management programs for enhancing human reliability and performance in complex job environment.
URL: http://psychologyinrussia.com/volumes/pdf/2009/25_2009_leonova.pdf
Title: Children’s Well-being 11 Years After the Chornobyl Catastrophe
Author: Bromet EJ, Goldgaber D, Carlson G, Panina N, Golovakha E, Gluzman SF, Gilbert T, Gluzman D, Lyubsky S, Schwartz JE.
Reference: Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2000;57(6):563-571
doi:10-1001/pubs.Arch Gen Psychiatry-ISSN-0003-990x-57-6-yoa9231.
Keywords: psychological effects, children, Kiev
Abstract: The psychological effects of technological disasters have rarely been studied in children. This study assessed the aftermath of the 1986 Chornobyl disaster in children evacuated to Kyiv from the contaminated zone surrounding the nuclear power facility.
URL: http://archpsyc.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=481617