Sangyo eiseigaku zasshi = Journal of occupational health最新文献

Objective: Occupational health nurses in contracted industrial health agencies are expected to provide small- and medium-sized companies with high-quality health promotion activities, primarily in terms of mental health prevention, in terms of the implementation of these health activities, practical competence is required to not only build support systems in the workplace, but in the affiliated agencies as well. This study aimed to develop a self-assessment scale of practical competence of occupational health nurses working in contracted industrial health agencies primarily aimed at the prevention of mental health problems.

Subjects and methods: A draft scale was prepared based on previous qualitative research and results obtained via literature reviews. A questionnaire survey was administered to 555 occupational health nurses from 111 facilities in order to verify the validity and reliability of the scale.

Results: Exploratory factor analysis of the responses from the 169 nurses, using maximum likelihood estimation and promax rotation, was performed. As a result, 26 items across the following four factors were identified: "the ability to operate a chain of health promotion activities in accordance with the policies and needs of workplaces," "the ability to consolidate partnerships with workplaces," "the ability to maintain the foundation of health promotion activities of the affiliated agency," and "the ability to draw support needs from workers." After confirmatory factor analysis was performed, and which resulted in the removal of four items, the resulting 22 items (across the four factors) had goodness of fit indices as follows: GFI = 0.874, AGFI = 0.838, CFI = 0.962, and RMSEA = 0.050.

Discussion and conclusion: The developed scale appeared to have certain levels of reliability and validity in its use as a scale for the practical competence assessment of occupational health nurses working in contracted industrial health agencies primarily aimed at preventing mental health problems. Thus, the scale can be used as a self-assessment tool that can help occupational health nurses working in contracted industrial health agencies to review their daily activities.

Objectives: Immediately before the state of emergency was declared, there was an outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) among special training participants with severe physical stress. For promoting the optimization of infection prevention measures by identifying acts and situations with high risk of infection, we conducted a survey and analysis to understand the detailed process of infection spread in these cases.

Methods: A structured interview was conducted for the special training participants on their health status, changes in symptoms, training methods, and behavior history in their private lives. Additionally, a patrol of the training facility was carried out to understand the training environment, and antibody tests were conducted on the close contacts for more accurately grasping the spread of infection, by identifying subclinical infected persons.

Results: Within 10 days of COVID-19 onset in the first patient, 15 of the 19 original training participants developed symptoms, and 14 patients tested positive for RT-PCR. PCR tests were also performed on four patients who did not develop the disease - two were positive and negative, each. The two negatives turned positive on a later antibody test, suggesting that there was an asymptomatic infection. In addition, all five patients who participated in the training for only a day developed symptoms and tested positive for PCR in a few days. Of the 64 people who underwent testing for antibodies as close contacts, all but one who was living together with a patient were negative on antibody testing.

Conclusions: The onset of COVID-19 occurred after the start of practice-based training continuously; therefore, the practice-based training was thought to be the main cause of the transmission. We speculate that the main factors behind the rapid spread of infection are as follows: during practice-based training, increased ventilation made it difficult to wear a mask; repeated loud vocalizations at close range; and the training pair was not fixed. Physical training without shouting and desk work, however, did not possess the risk of COVID-19, and avoiding certain situations at high risk of respiratory infections may have significantly reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission. If personnel become infected with SARS-CoV-2, emergency measures should be devised by identifying patients and close contacts and facilitating the investigation of their behavioral history. Furthermore, evaluating and improving the effectiveness of infection control measures is necessary by ascertaining potentially infected persons by performing PCR tests, antigen tests, antibody tests, etc. in combination.

Objectives: A number of earlier studies have pointed out that care workers in nursing homes for the elderly experience high levels of stress. In recent years, work engagement has been attracting attention as a concept that focuses on the positive psychological aspects of workers. In this study, we examined whether writing and reading aloud positive events that take place in the workplace would be useful as a measure to improve work engagement and to reduce occupational stress among care workers in such facilities.

Methods: Participants included 57 care workers (across 13 groups) working at seven welfare facilities in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. A crossover trial with two groups the intervention and control groups was used. The intervention group wrote about positive events, and read them aloud for each group at the morning assemblies and other gatherings. The control group continued work as usual. The survey spanned eight weeks. The questionnaire items were sourced from the Japanese version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ), and included items concerning participants' biographical attributes. The number of positive events that the participants individually wrote about and the frequency of listening to reading about them was asked for at the end of the intervention period. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between the number of written accounts or the frequency of listening to readings and the amount of change in the scores of the subscales.

Results: The median number of positive events that the participants individually wrote about was three (interquartile range 1-5). The number of those who answered that the frequency of listening to readings was rare was 22 (38.6%). Significant differences in the changes in the scores between the two groups were recognized in terms of "absorption," a subscale of the UWES, and the "work control," "work worth," and "family support," subscales of the BJSQ. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the number of written accounts was associated with the amount of change in absorption and the amount of change in work worth. The frequency of how often the participants listened to the readings was not related to the amount of change across any of the four subscales.

Conclusion: Writing about positive events during work could enhance "absorption" of UWES and improve "work worth" of BJSQ. It is suggested that writing and reading aloud positive events that take place in the workplace is one of the measures to improve "absorption" and "work worth" among care workers in welfare facilities.

Objectives: We examined factors regarding help-seeking intentions in terms of the balance between treatment and job content among Japanese employees working for small- and medium-sized enterprises. In doing so, we focused upon a cooperative organizational culture and workers' attitudes toward seeking help from others.

Methods: We conducted a web-based survey on cooperative organizational culture, workers' attitudes toward help-seeking, and job-related factors via a representative sample of Japanese employees in terms of industry and company size. Participants included 3,286 full-time employees aged 20-64 years who had not had a history of sick leave beyond one month or health-related work restrictions. After they were provided a leaflet regarding the balance between treatment and job content - as advocated by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare - participants were asked to answer their intention of help-seeking in an imaginary situation where they had been diagnosed as having a severe physical illness. We conducted multivariate logistic regression analysis using cooperative organizational culture and workers' attitudes toward help-seeking as explanatory variables, and the intention of help-seeking as the dependent variable, adjusted for relevant job-related and demographic variables.

Results: Approximately 75% of participants reported an active intention to seek help regarding the balance between treatment and job content. Those who reported the highest levels of cooperative organizational culture revealed the intention of seeking out help significantly more frequently than those who reported the lowest levels of cooperative organizational culture in the workplace (odds ratio: 1.5, 95% confidence interval: 1.1-1.9). Similarly, those with the highest attitude reported help-seeking intentions significantly more frequently (odds ratio: 1.4, 95% confidence interval: 1.1-1.7). Other job-related factors - such as the presence/absence of consultation desks or occupational health staff - were also significantly associated with the intention to seek help.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that an increase in awareness of the system regarding the balance between treatment and job content may enhance workers' intention to seek help regarding their health-related issues. After the adjustment of relevant job-related factors, cooperative organizational culture and workers' attitudes toward help-seeking were significantly associated with the intention to seek help. For those who are passive in seeking help regarding their health-related issues despite their awareness of the support system, the enhancement of a cooperative organizational culture, along with a positive attitude toward help-seeking via workplace improvement programs and in-company training, may promote the intention of help-seeking among employees working for small- and medium-sized companies.<

Objectives: Karoshi problems (overwork-related deaths and disorders caused by cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases) still occur in Japan. Truck drivers, who are in one of the riskiest occupations, are reported to show an increased prevalence of hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes, which are characteristic of Karoshi. Their health problems also include excessive fatigue. This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the association between work-life factors and health disorders/excessive fatigue among Japanese truck drivers.

Methods: We distributed a questionnaire regarding work hours, health status, lifestyle, burden of driving, and excessive fatigue to 5,410 truck drivers and collected a total of 1,947 responses, all from males. The association between work-life factors and health outcomes was evaluated by multivariable logistic regression analysis adjusted for age, drinking, and smoking status.

Results: The prevalence rates of obesity, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and excessive fatigue were 22.2%, 19.3%, 8.5%, 5.6%, 2.5%, 0.7%, and 6.0%, respectively. Significant associations were observed for long-haul trips (two days or more) with obesity (adjusted odds ratio 1.5 [95% Confidence Interval 1.1-2.1]), local and night trips with hypertension (1.5 [1.0-2.2]), early morning awakening on workdays with obesity (1.5 [1.1-2.1]), being indoor-oriented on weekends with hypertension (1.5 [1.1-2.0]); and heavy burden of driving at night with hyperlipidemia (2.0 [1.3-3.0]). The adjusted odds ratios were significant for waking after sleep onset (2.6 [1.2-5.3]) and lack of sleep satisfaction (2.7 [1.4-5.1]) on workdays, less than six hours of sleep (2.8 [1.0-7.8]) and lack of sleep satisfaction (2.8 [1.5-5.2]) on weekends, 0-3 days off per month (3.6 [1.3-10.2]), and heavy burden of driving at night (2.2 [1.0-4.8]) with excessive fatigue.

Conclusions: The present findings highlight that night and early morning work, heavy burden of night driving, and the resultant decreases in the quality and quantity of sleep may represent shared risk factors for health disorders and excessive fatigue among truck drivers. Adequate measures should be taken to limit the amount of night and early morning work, reduce the burden of night driving, and ensure days off for sleep opportunities and leisure activities, with the goal of preventing Karoshi.

Objectives: Research suggests that misalignment of the biological clock and social time, referred to as social jetlag (SJL), can induce physical and mental disorders. SJL may also be associated with presenteeism (i.e., a state in which workers are unable to perform sufficiently due to mental and physical health problems, even though they are going to work). However, the association between SJL and presenteeism among workers in Japan remains unclear. This study aimed to verify the following hypotheses in a sample of workers in an industrial setting in Japan: "Workers exhibiting SJL have a high degree of work functioning impairment due to presenteeism" and "An association between SJL and presenteeism exists, even when taking work style and sleep-related factor into consideration."

Methods: A self-administered questionnaire survey was conducted with 1,573 workers in the manufacturing industry. Of these, 1,501 participants responded (response rate: 95.4%). Individuals who provided invalid answers or used alarm clocks to wake on work-free days were excluded, according to the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ) guidelines. The final sample comprised 980 participants (80.7% male; average age: 44.4 [SD 11.3] years). SJL was assessed using the MCTQ. Presenteeism was measured using the work functioning impairment scale. Using presenteeism as the dependent variable, we conducted hierarchical multiple regression analyses to compare the explanatory power of the different models. Independent variables were SJL, daily rest period between workdays, weekday sleep duration, and subjective insomnia. Models 2 and 3 were adjusted for age, sex, employment position, occupation, employment status, and working regulations.

Results: Multiple regression analyses indicated that SJL was significantly and individually associated with presenteeism (β = .066, p = .038). After adjusting for work- and sleep-related variables (Models 2 and 3), SJL no longer contributed significantly to presenteeism. In the final model, daily rest periods (β = .076, p = .017) and subjective insomnia (β = .470, p < .001) remained significantly associated with presenteeism (adjusted R² = .239).

Conclusions: The hypothesis "Workers experiencing SJL have a high degree of work functioning impairment due to presenteeism" was supported in our univariate analysis. However, after considering the influence of subjective insomnia and daily rest periods, the association disappeared. Therefore, a direct relationship between SJL and presenteeism is not supported. Thus, the risk of presenteeism should be considered in two stages, first confirming the perception of insomnia among workers who experience SJL, and then considering the possibility of presenteeism occurring.