Table 3.
Psychological and Cognitive Instruments in the First (Baseline) Survey.
| Data acquisition method | Instrument name* | Measured phenomena | Number of items/subscales, if applicable | Number of participants |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Questionnaire | TAC24 (39) (Tri-axial Coping Scale) | This scale measures coping, defined as “an ever-changing cognitive-behavioral effort made to meet specific external and internal demands that are burdensome or have been rated as exceeding all personal resources,” by assessing participants’ thoughts, behaviors, and strategies for dealing with mentally difficult situations. | 24 items/8 subscales | 12,156 |
| DASS-15 (40) (Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales) | A scale that measures symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress over the past week. | 15 items/3 subscales | 12,156 | |
| POMS (41) (Profile of Mood States) | This scale measures six different dimensions of mood swings (tension or anxiety, anger or hostility, vigor or activity, fatigue or inertia, depression or dejection, and confusion or bewilderment) over a period. | 30 items/6 subscales | 12,144 | |
| IES-R-J (42), (43) (Impact of Event Scale-Revised, Japanese) | The IES-R is a self-report measure that assesses subjective distress caused by traumatic events. The items directly correspond to 14 of the 17 symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV). The IES-R contains seven additional items related to the hyperarousal symptoms of PTSD. Respondents are asked to identify a specific stressful life event (i.e., the Great East Japan Earthquake) and then indicate how much they were distressed or bothered by the difficulty listed during the past 7 days. | 22 items/3 subscales | 12,153 | |
| Interview | MMSE-J (56), (57) (Mini-Mental State Examination, Japanese version) | An assessment of cognitive function that evaluates attention and orientation, memory, registration, recall, calculation, language, and ability to draw a complex polygon. | 11 items | 3,610 |
Notes:
Parenthesized numerical references correspond to bibliographic citations elsewhere in the manuscript.
*: Representative psychological and cognitive instruments are shown.