Group Of Japanese Workers Research Articles

Work Engagement and Work Performance Among Japanese Workers: A 1-Year Prospective Cohort Study.

We carried out a prospective study to investigate the association between work engagement and work performance in a group of Japanese workers. Our cohort included 1632 men and 192 women aged 65 years or younger who worked at a manufacturing company in Japan. Multiple regression analysis was conducted. Higher work engagement at baseline was significantly associated with better work performance at follow-up (β = 0.159, P < 0.001). A sex-stratified analysis showed that the impact of work engagement at baseline on work performance at follow-up was stronger among women than among men (β = 0.242, P < 0.001 and β = 0.153, P < 0.001, respectively). Higher work engagement may have beneficial effects on work performance. The impact of work engagement on work performance may be greater among women than among men.

Work engagement and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels among Japanese workers: a 1-year prospective cohort study.

Evidence on the association between psychological well-being and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels is limited. We carried out a prospective study to investigate the association between work engagement and hs-CRP levels in a group of Japanese workers. Our cohort included 1,857 men and 657 women aged 65 and under, and free from major illness, working at two manufacturing worksites in Japan. Baseline examinations were conducted from April to June 2011 to determine the demographic and lifestyle characteristics and levels of work engagement. Blood samples were obtained from participants at baseline and after 1 year. Participants were classified into tertiles of low, moderate, and high work engagement at baseline. Hs-CRP levels were split into low (≤3.0 mg/L) and high (>3.0 mg/L). We used multiple logistic regression analyses to evaluate the association between work engagement at baseline and hs-CRP levels at follow-up, adjusting for hs-CRP at baseline and potential confounding factors. Participants reporting moderate and high levels of work engagement at baseline had significantly lower odds ratios (ORs) of having high hs-CRP levels at follow-up than those with low levels of work engagement at baseline [OR of moderate level 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24-0.81; OR of high level 0.57, 95% CI 0.33-0.99; p for trend <0.05]. Findings suggest that work engagement has beneficial effects on workers' cardiovascular health.

Mental health and quality of life of North Korean defectors living in Japan

The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of migration of North Korean defectors to different host countries on the mental health and quality of life of the migrants by comparing three subject groups: North Korean defectors living in Japan, a group of Japanese workers living in Japan (for comparison), and North Korean defectors living in South Korea. The North Korean defectors living in Japan scored significantly higher on the Beck Depression Inventory, and also scored lower across all domains of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment than the other two groups. However, no significant difference in the overall quality of life score was observed between the North Korean defectors living in Japan and the Japanese workers, while the North Korean defectors living in South Korea scored significantly higher as compared to both. These findings suggest that the insecurity of social factors because of poor fluency in the language of the host country, unemployment and unclear nationality, and the limited support system may contribute to the poor mental health and low quality of life of North Korean defectors living in Japan. Migration may promote a sense of achievement and improve the overall quality of life, but attention must be paid to the pervasive depression in these migrants.

Overtime work and stress response in a group of Japanese workers

Working long overtime hours is considered a cause of mental health problems among workers but such a relationship has yet to be empirically confirmed. To clarify the influence of overtime work on response to stress and to assess the role of other stress-related factors on this relationship. The study was conducted among 24 685 employees of a company in Japan. Stress response, job stressors and social supports were assessed by the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. Participants were divided into five categories of overtime (0-19, 20-39, 40-59, >or=60 h of overtime per month and exempted employees). The nonadjusted odds ratios for stress response for 40-59 and >or=60 overtime hours per month in reference to 0-19 overtime hours were 1.11 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.19] and 1.62 (95% CI 1.50-1.76), respectively. After adjustment for self-assessed amount of work, mental workload and sleeping time, the association between overtime work and stress response disappeared. This large cross-sectional study shows that overtime work appears to influence stress response indirectly through other stress factors such as self-assessed amount of work, mental workload and sleeping time.

Application of the stratum-specific likelihood ratio (SSLR) analysis to results of a depressive symptoms screening survey among Japanese workers

The stratum-specific likelihood ratio (SSLR) has been widely used as a convenient method to interpret the results of screening surveys. In the present paper, an SSLR analysis is applied to the results of a survey that used the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) to identify depressive symptoms in a group of Japanese workers in an attempt to determine score categories that have predictive clinical values in a screening context. The self-reported CES-D and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) were administered to 2,219 workers (84.2% men; age 21-68 years) during a periodical medical examination. The SSLR was calculated to determine strata with optimal discrimination for major depressive disorder (MDD). For MDD, the SSLR was 0.06 (95%CI: 0.02-0.18) for the CES-D score range 0-16, 1.90 (0.78-4.62) for the score range 17-19, and 12.4 (10.2-15.1) for the score above 20. The SSLR shown in this study proposes score categories that guide clinicians in selecting the workers most at risks of having MDD among Japanese workers.

Workers' perceptions of a Japanese company's song

The Japanese company song is reputed to inspire the working morale of employees and thus contribute to overall company performance. This article investigates the psychological impact of the company song on workers by analysing the question-naire responses obtained from a group of Japanese workers. The researcher found that differences in gender and generation gap were strong explanatory variables in terms of workers' perception of non-business themes in the company song, while differences in organizational status played a significant role in explaining differences in employees' perceptions of the business-related themes. Some practical implications are also discussed.

The Direct Development of Hookworms after Oral Infection 1

A group of Japanese workers have revived a much controverted question by their persistence in the view that lung migration of larval hookworms is essential to their later development. This opinion is founded upon recent experimental studies with the dog hookworm, Ancylostoma caninum, in both normal and abnormal hosts. Miyagawa and his assistants noted (9, 10) that larvae isolated from the trachea of previously infected puppies gave a higher percentage development (90 per cent average in 4 pups) upon oral administration than was obtained with normal infective larvae (75 per cent in 3 pups). The rate of development was increased to an average of 93 per cent in 3 puppies infected with larval hookworms obtained from the intestine of a previously infected dog after having completed their migration within the normal host.