Radioprotection 2026, 61( 2), 166 – 170 © A. Goto et al., Published by EDP Sciences 2026 https:// doi. org / 10.1051 / radiopro / 2025020
Available online at: www. radioprotection. org
ARTICLE
Investigating the digital health and gender dimension for radiation protection in Japan
A. Goto 1,*, M. Henning 2, M. Danguilan 3, T. Ohba 4 and C. Chi 5
1 Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Center for Integrated Sciences and Humanities, Fukushima Medical University, Hikarigaoka 1, Building 8, Fukushima City, Fukushima 9601295, Japan. 2 Health Sciences, Keene State College Keene, New Hampshire, U. S. A. 3 Salubris Medical Center, Vicente L Danguilan Memorial Clinic Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines. 4 Department of Radiological Sciences, Fukushima Medical University School of Health Sciences Fukushima City, Fukushima, Japan. 5 Global Health Program and Health Management & Policy Program, College of Health, Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon, U. S. A.
Received: 16 April 2025 / Accepted: 19 August 2025
Abstract – In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, digital tools for radiation protection were employed in Japan, yet often without a gender equity focus. This study examined gender differences in knowledge, attitudes, and practices( KAP) concerning the use of these tools. A secondary analysis was conducted on anonymous data from a 2020 internet-based survey, which included demographic information, radiation knowledge, eHealth literacy, and opinions on radiation tools. Of the 339 respondents, over 70 % expressed interest in using a radiation protection app, with no gender difference. However, men reported higher self-assessed knowledge( 38.2 % vs. 23.5 %) and actual usage( 16.8 % vs. 4.8 %). Multivariable analysis showed persistent gender disparities in knowledge( adjusted odds ratio [ aOR ] for women 0.56) and practice( aOR for women 0.27), even when adjusting for basic characteristics. More men felt relieved and were inclined to use the app for self-protection, whereas more women viewed the tools as less useful and were more concerned with daily living. The findings highlight the urgent need to address women’ s perspectives, suggesting the development of gender-sensitive digital tools and increased awareness of their benefits for women.
Keywords: Fukushima nuclear accident / digital divide / gender equity
1 Introduction
Japan is a disaster-prone country. In 2011, a Fukushima nuclear power plant accident occurred following a massive earthquake and tsunami. When facing disasters, prompt responses to convey emergency information and connect people with support services are needed. Digital technologies could improve the responses before, during, and after disasters regardless of affected people’ s geographical locations or even disaster types( Madanian et al., 2020).
The digital tools are increasingly integrated into our daily lives. Such advances in digital technology allow health services to be delivered swiftly and beyond geographic boundaries. Therefore, people’ s ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic sources and apply the knowledge gained to addressing or solving a health problem( eHealth literacy)( Norman et al., 2006) would be important for navigating themselves in a health system and accessing health services. A recent meta-analysis reported that
* Corresponding author: agoto @ fmu. ac. jp eHealth literacy, often measured by the eHealth Literacy Scale, correlated with health behaviors( Kim et al., 2023).
One of the guidelines for developing digital tools in the nuclear disaster context recommends preparing the tool that takes into account the well-being of vulnerable people, including children, pregnant women, people with disabilities, older people, and migrants( Shamisen Sings, 2020). As for the gender aspect, digital health is reported to be rarely designed from a gender equity perspective( Figueroa et al., 2021) and significant gender gap is reported in the usage of digital tools( Yumiya et al., 2021, UNESCO, 2019). International survey results reported by UNESCO showed that boys with mobile phones used them for a wider range of activities than girls in adolescence, early adopters of new technology are overwhelmingly men among college students, and only about 10 % of machine learning researchers were women( UNESCO, 2019). Such a gender gap in digital skills exists across regions, and among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries, Japan indicated the lowest share of women among all tertiary graduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics( STEM)( OECD, 2025).
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License( https:// creativecommons. org / licenses / by / 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.