Nursing Students’ Views Guiding Evacuee Placement in “HUG”, a Game about Evacuation Shelter Management

International Journal of Nursing and Health Science

© 2025 by SSRG - IJNHS Journal

Volume 11 Issue 1

Year of Publication : 2025

Authors : Yuka Hirai, Katsutoshi Watanabe

10.14445/24547484/IJNHS-V11I1P102

How to Cite?

Yuka Hirai, Katsutoshi Watanabe, "Nursing Students’ Views Guiding Evacuee Placement in “HUG”, a Game about Evacuation Shelter Management," SSRG International Journal of Nursing and Health Science, vol. 11,  no. 1, pp. 8-15, 2025. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/24547484/IJNHS-V11I1P102

Abstract:

Objectives: Students in the nursing department of one Japanese university take Disaster Nursing in their fourth year of study. In this course, through a disaster-preparedness game about evacuation shelter management called “HUG”, they learn about the conditions of shelters and victims in times of disaster and how to place essential supporters appropriately and handle the type of incidents that can happen at such shelters. This study aimed to clarify the perspectives and attitudes guiding students’ decisions about evacuee placement as they played this game. Methods: In May 2019, after playing HUG in the classroom, 78 fourth-year nursing students engaged in a group discussion in response to the prompt, “What perspectives did you consider as you were placing evacuees?” Afterwards, they were asked to write an open-ended report. These reports were subjected to content analysis. Results: Seven categories were identified via content analysis: disability due to illness or age; convenience for people living there; separating some evacuees out of a desire not to disturb others, unwittingly resulting in segregation; convenience in terms of operational aspects; privacy concerns; avoiding separation from familiar presences; and respect for nonsmokers when designating smoking areas. Discussion: These results reveal a need for nursing students to take broader perspectives, without prejudicial attitudes, when caring for disaster victims’ health and to cultivate greater sensitivity to evacuees’ emotions.

Keywords:

Disaster nursing, Disaster-preparedness, Game, Evacuation shelter management, Nursing student.

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