Posttraumatic growth, health-related quality of life and subjective happiness among Great East Japan Earthquake survivors attending a community knitting program to perform acts of kindness

Yarn Alive (YA) is a non-profit organization that was started after the 2011 Great East JapanEarthquake to support women through a knitting group that provided social support, creativeexpression, and opportunities to practice acts of kindness. In this study, we examined whetherYA changed the level of posttraumatic growth (PTG), health-related quality of life (HRQOL),and subjective happiness as measured by the subjective happiness scale (SHS). We conducteda retrospective correlational study through administering a cross-sectional survey to 98 YAparticipants and 97 YA non-participants in May-July 2017. Questionnaires were received from72 YA participants (response rate=73.5%) and 63 non-participants (response rate=64.9%).Data was analyzed by conducting descriptive, correlational, and multiple linear regressionanalyses. Participation in the YA program was shown to have a positive impact on HRQOL(R2=.18, adjusted R2=.15, p<.0001) and SHS (R2=.07, adjusted R2=.05, p=.013), which ispositively correlated with time. Participants with a high school education or less seemed tobenefit more from the program than those with at least a college or university degree (R2=.18,adjusted R2=.15, p<.0001). We also found the spiritual domain of PTG to be higher amongYA participants (t=2.9, p=.004) and overall PTG to be positively associated with incrementalimpact experienced during the disaster (R2=.12, adjusted R2=.11, p<.0001). This study showsthat formal academia-led evaluation of grassroots community programs can yield informationthat may help direct resources to the most appropriate and acceptable programs by thecommunity and strengthen their implementation.