Development of the occupational stress scale for small and medium-sized enterprise owners for stress prevention measures.

Small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners are at an increased risk of mental disorders in addition to stress directly related to their business performance. However, steps to protect SME owners' mental health are lacking, and no occupational stress scale has been developed to accurately understand the real-world situation. Based on a nationwide internet survey of 1,000 Japanese SME owners aged 20-79 years with five or more employees, we developed a novel occupational stress scale for SME owners.

Assessing workplace civility: Validity and 1-year test-retest reliability of a Japanese version of the CREW Civility Scale.

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the eight-item CREW Civility Scale which measures workplace civility norms and compare the civility scores among various occupations.

Methods: A longitudinal study included all employees in a social care organization (N = 658) and a cross-sectional study included all civil servants in one city (N = 3242) in Japan. Structural validity was tested through confirmatory factor analyses (CFA).

[Association of self-rated health with inflammatory markers among nursing home employees].

Objectives: Although self-rated health (SRH), the self-evaluation of one's own health status, has been reported to be associated with the immune status, the relationship between three different SRH measures (global, self-comparative, and age-comparative) with inflammatory markers as well as the relative strength of these associations by age are not well understood. The current study investigated the associations between SRH measures and inflammatory markers among nursing home employees.

Methods: A sample of 120 Japanese employees at a nursing home (90 women and 30 men), aged 21-68 years (mean, 40.

Workplace social capital and refraining from seeking medical care in Japanese employees: a 1-year prospective cohort study.

Objectives: We examined the association of workplace social capital (WSC), including structural and cognitive dimensions, with refraining from seeking medical care (RSMC) among Japanese employees.

Design: One-year prospective cohort study.

Setting And Participants: We surveyed 8770 employees (6881 men and 1889 women) aged 18-70 years from 12 firms in Japan using a self-administered questionnaire comprising the WSC scale and the items on potential confounders (ie, age, educational attainment and equivalent annual household income) at baseline (from April 2011 to March 2013).

The Association Between Unit-Level Workplace Social Capital and Intention to Leave Among Employees in Health Care Settings: A Cross-Sectional Multilevel Study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the multilevel association between workplace social capital and intention to leave among employees in health care settings in Japan.

Methods: This study was a secondary data analysis of the cross-sectional data. A sample of 658 Japanese employees in health care settings with 17 facilities were recruited using a self-administered questionnaire.

The Association of Workplace Social Capital With Work Engagement of Employees in Health Care Settings: A Multilevel Cross-Sectional Analysis.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine the cross-sectional multilevel association between unit-level workplace social capital and individual-level work engagement among employees in health care settings.

Methods: The data were collected from employees of a Japanese health care corporation using a questionnaire. The analyses were limited to 440 respondents from 35 units comprising five or more respondents per unit.

Relationship between sickness presenteeism (WHO-HPQ) with depression and sickness absence due to mental disease in a cohort of Japanese workers.

Background: Absence due to mental disease in the workplace has become a global public health problem. We aimed to evaluate the influence of presenteeism on depression and absence due to mental disease.

Methods: A prospective study of 1831 Japanese employees from all areas of Japan was conducted.

Optimal cutoff values of WHO-HPQ presenteeism scores by ROC analysis for preventing mental sickness absence in Japanese prospective cohort.

Objectives: Sickness absence due to mental disease in the workplace has become a global public health problem. Previous studies report that sickness presenteeism is associated with sickness absence. We aimed to determine optimal cutoff scores for presenteeism in the screening of the future absences due to mental disease.

Altered DNA methylation status of human brain derived neurotrophis factor gene could be useful as biomarker of depression.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in the survival, development, and synaptic plasticity of neurons. BDNF is believed to be associated with the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders. Several studies have suggested the relevance of DNA methylation in its promoter region with depression.

Occupational and socioeconomic differences in actigraphically measured sleep.

Occupational conditions, together with socioeconomic status, may modulate sleep. This study examined the association of occupational conditions and socioeconomic status with actigraphic measures of sleep in workers. Fifty-five employees (40 ± 12 years) wore a wrist actigraph during sleep for seven consecutive nights.

Association of job demands with work engagement of Japanese employees: comparison of challenges with hindrances (J-HOPE).

Objectives: Recent epidemiological research in Europe has reported that two groups of job demands, i.e., challenges and hindrances, are differently associated with work engagement.

Risk of progression to hypertension in nonhypertensive Japanese workers aged 20-64 years.

Objective: Prehypertension is a known risk factor for hypertension in individuals aged less than 20 or more than 35 years, but no large studies have investigated this risk in individuals aged 20-34 years. This study investigated progression to hypertension in nonhypertensive individuals aged 20-34 years and compared this group with individuals aged 35-64 years.

Methods: A total of 12,639 nonhypertensive individuals aged 20-64 years were followed from 1999 to 2008.

Psychosocial mechanisms of psychological health disparity in Japanese workers.

Recent epidemiologic research has shown that people with higher socioeconomic status (SES) (e.g., educational attainment) have better psychological health than those with lower SES.

Optimum cut-off point of the Japanese short version of the effort-reward imbalance questionnaire.

Objectives: The theoretical threshold (effort-reward ratio >1.0) may not be ideal for the Japanese short version of the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) questionnaire. We aimed to seek the optimum cut-off point.

Japanese dietary pattern consistently relates to low depressive symptoms and it is modified by job strain and worksite supports.

Background: This study examined the association between traditional Japanese dietary pattern and depressive symptoms in Japanese workers, employing large-scale samples, considering socioeconomic status (SES) and job stress factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 2266 Japanese employees aged 21-65 years from all areas of Japan was conducted as part of the Japanese Study of Health, Occupation and Psychosocial factors related Equity (J-HOPE). Habitual diet was assessed by FFQ (BDHQ).

Socioeconomic status is significantly associated with dietary salt intakes and blood pressure in Japanese workers (J-HOPE Study).

The association of socioeconomic status (SES) with nutrients intakes attracts public attention worldwide. In the current study, we examined the associations of SES with dietary salt intake and health outcomes in general Japanese workers (2,266) who participated in this Japanese occupational cohort. SES was assessed by a self-administered questionnaire.

Socioeconomic status is significantly associated with the dietary intakes of folate and depression scales in Japanese workers (J-HOPE Study).

The association of socioeconomic status (SES) with nutrient intake attracts public attention worldwide. In the current study, we examined the associations of SES with dietary intake of folate and health outcomes in general Japanese workers. This Japanese occupational cohort consisted off 2266 workers.

Folate intake and depressive symptoms in Japanese workers considering SES and job stress factors: J-HOPE study.

Background: Recently socioeconomic status (SES) and job stress index received more attention to affect mental health. Folate intake has been implicated to have negative association with depression. However, few studies were published for the evidence association together with the consideration of SES and job stress factors.