Mental and physical effects of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake on School Children, and Health Support initiatives by YogoTeachers: Findings from a survey of high school yogo teachers 5 years after the disaster

Objective: To clarify the current mental and physical state of students 5 years after experiencing the Great East Japan earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear accident, and to shed light on the practical initiatives and issues faced by yogo teachers in supporting students’ health. Method: In May 2016, we conducted a mail-based questionnaire of yogo teachers at 15 prefectural high schools in Soma District and Futaba District (collectively, “Soso”) in Fukushima Prefecture, one of the areas most heavily affected by the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident.　The questionnaire focused on (1) health and school life of students; and (2) current initiatives and issues faced by yogo teachers in supporting student health. Results: We received responses from 8 of the 15 high school yogo teachers surveyed (response rate: 53.3％).Six yogo teachers (75％) responded that the “students are calm.” However, 6 yogo teachers (75％) recognized a tendency among students towards weight gain and obesity, as well as reduced physical stamina and sporting ability, while 4 yogo teachers (50％) indicated that some students were anxious about their future and career path, and were receiving personal support from the school counselor.　The yogo teachers provided support to students while attempting to ascertain their mental and physical well-being through greater health monitoring and questionnaires, and while coordinating with the school physician and counselor. Conclusion: Five years after the earthquake, high school students in the Soso district are now leading a more relaxed school life, but still feel anxious about their future health and career path due to lingering concerns about radiation, highlighting the need for long-term support by yogo teachers

マインドフルネスを用いたメンタルトレーニングが女子大学生アスリートの身体組成、心理面、および生活習慣に与える影響 ―陸上長距離選手を対象として―

本研究は、さまざまな分野で注目されるマインドフルネスを用いたメンタルトレーニングの効果を検討することを目的とし、マインドフルネスを用いたメンタルトレーニングが女子大学生アスリートの身体組成、心理面、および生活習慣面にどのような影響を与えるのか検討を行った。 　Ｔ大学の女子大学生アスリートを対象にメンタルトレーニング群は５週間のメンタルトレーニング（約20分）を行い、メンタルトレーニングを行わないコントロール群との比較を行った。両群ともに実験期間前後に身体組成測定、心理調査（POMS２）を行い、実験期間後に約５週間の体調面、心理面、生活習慣等の変 化に関するアンケートを行った。 　マインドフルネスを用いたメンタルトレーニングが女子大学生アスリートの身体組成、および心理面、生活習慣面にポジティブな変化をもたらしたことから、競技パフォーマンスに好影響を与える可能性が明らかになった

Health Support Provided by Yogo Teachers for Adolescent Female Students with a Thin Body Type

Purpose: To clarify the realities and challenges involved in health support provided by yogo teachers to adolescent girls who have a thin body type. Methods: A semi-structured interview survey was conducted with yogo teachers at a Japanese high school with experience of providing health support to thin adolescent female students and the results of the survey were subjected to qualitative analysis. Results: With regard to health support provided by yogo teachers, the results of analysis found that the actual situation consisted of the five categories of 【sharing information throughout the school organization to investigate methods of support】,【 realizing studentsʼ situations through the provision of individual support】, 【referring students and parents to specialist agencies】,【investigating collaborations with parents with students ʼ consent】, and 【carrying out prevention and awareness-raising activities about thin physiques】.　 However, the analysis also found that the practical challenges for providing such health support consisted of the six categories of 【working with parents to liaise with medical institutions】,【continuous support in collaboration with specialist agencies】,【 educational health support that enables all students to manage their own health】,【 yogo teachersʼ professional knowledge and assessment of eating disorders】,【 support methods that students can engage with on their own initiative, according to their situation】, and 【creating a counseling- friendly environment to facilitate early detection】.Discussion: While yogo teachers had an overall grasp of studentsʼ situations through their organizational engagements in cooperation with faculty and school physicians, as well as individual support activities, it was clear that they faced difficulties and challenges in relation to working together with parents and specialist agencies.　In the future, improving collaboration with parents will require that they, too, be encouraged to recognize that being excessively thin represents a health problem for adolescent female students.　In addition, it will also be necessary to work towards building daily collaboration systems, such as by having yogo teachers keep track of potential partner medical institutions as a matter of routine.　It was further suggested that yogo teachers will need to provide educational and preventive health support oriented toward helping female students acquire the ability to manage their own health

Synchronization of spontaneous eyeblinks while viewing video stories

Blinks are generally suppressed during a task that requires visual attention and tend to occur immediately before or after the task when the timing of its onset and offset are explicitly given. During the viewing of video stories, blinks are expected to occur at explicit breaks such as scene changes. However, given that the scene length is unpredictable, there should also be appropriate timing for blinking within a scene to prevent temporal loss of critical visual information. Here, we show that spontaneous blinks were highly synchronized between and within subjects when they viewed the same short video stories, but were not explicitly tied to the scene breaks. Synchronized blinks occurred during scenes that required less attention such as at the conclusion of an action, during the absence of the main character, during a long shot and during repeated presentations of a similar scene. In contrast, blink synchronization was not observed when subjects viewed a background video or when they listened to a story read aloud. The results suggest that humans share a mechanism for controlling the timing of blinks that searches for an implicit timing that is appropriate to minimize the chance of losing critical information while viewing a stream of visual events

Consider the guidance of the way on radiation and health in kindergarten, elementary and junior high schools consistently: Efforts on radiation education based on viewpoints of health education and science education

平成23年の東日本大震災による福島第一原発事故の災害により，福島県民の健康不安や周りの者からの風評被害が社会問題となり，教育現場においてもいじめなどの深刻な人権問題が生じた。そのことから，今後は，子ども達の放射線に関する基礎的知識の習得，放射線に関する課題についての思考・判断能力の育成が求められると考えられる。 本研究では，発達段階の違いを考慮した上で，実態に即した学習内容を検討するために小学６年生と中学３年生に「放射線に関する認識について」の調査を実施し，実態を比較検討した。その調査結果から，放射線についての教育プログラムを開発検討するにあたり，放射線についての正しい知識を身につけ，より実生活と結びついた教育内容を展開する必要があると考えた。研究結果として，小学６年生と中学３年生では放射線に関する認識・知識に大きな差が見られなかったことから，小学６年生と中学３年生の児童生徒が合同で放射線に関する学習プログラムを展開し，発達段階の異なる者同士が意見交換をしながら思考・判断能力を育むという，学習の相乗効果を見込んだ働きかけも可能であると考えられた。Due to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident due to the Great East Japan Great Earthquake of 2011, damage caused by Fukushima citizen's health and rumors became a social problem and human rights problems such as bullying also occurred in the educational setting. From that, it is required to acquire basic knowledge on children's radiation and to develop thought / judgment abilities. In this research, we aimed to develop radiation education programs by conducting a survey on "radiation recognition perception" in elementary and junior high school students and junior high school graders. As a result, since there was no significant difference in elementary and junior high school students' recognition and knowledge, we thought that synergistic effects of learning can be expected by developing a learning program that elementary school students and junior high school students can jointly perform