TY - GEN
T1 - Effects of Occupational Stressors on Depressive Symptoms
T2 - AHFE Virtual Conference on Physical Ergonomics and Human Factors, the Virtual Conference on Social and Occupational Ergonomics, and the Virtual Conference on Cross-Cultural Decision Making, 2020
AU - Iwaasa, Takumi
AU - Sasaki, Takeshi
AU - Yoshikawa, Toru
AU - Ochiai, Yuko
AU - Kubo, Tomohide
AU - Matsuo, Tomoaki
AU - Liu, Xinxin
AU - Takahashi, Masaya
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - This study aimed to examine the status of depression symptoms and occupational stress factors that triggered these symptoms among workers in medical and welfare industries. Web-based surveys were conducted in 2016 and 2019 among research company survey respondents regarding their work, life and health. This study extracted data for medical services and welfare workers who participated in both the initial survey in 2016 and the follow-up survey in 2019. First of all, 288 regular employees (221 men and 67 females of mean age 45.6 years, SD = 9.0) who worked in the medical services and welfare industries at the time of both surveys were identified. Of these, 115 presented with depressive symptoms by CES-D scale (39.9%), indicating a higher ratio compared to other occupations. Following this, for the 173 respondents who did not present with depressive symptoms in the initial survey but developed depressive symptoms during the three years following the initial survey, changes (favorable, improved, no change, deteriorated, unfavorable) in occupational stressors were analyzed using explanatory variables. As the results of logistic regression analysis, at the time of the follow-up survey, 32 respondents presented with symptoms of depression (18.5%), and environmental work stress (noise, lighting, temperature, ventilation, etc.) and interpersonal stress at work (unfavorable stress conditions at the time of both surveys) significantly affect the onset of these symptoms. Many medical services and welfare workers are required to suppress their own emotions as they go about their busy daily duties of caring for others, and this study suggests that they are working under highly stressful conditions. There is a strong sense that the workplace has reached an impasse, and a new approach is needed in a bid to revitalize the organization and create attractive company structures, as well as improve the physical working environment.
AB - This study aimed to examine the status of depression symptoms and occupational stress factors that triggered these symptoms among workers in medical and welfare industries. Web-based surveys were conducted in 2016 and 2019 among research company survey respondents regarding their work, life and health. This study extracted data for medical services and welfare workers who participated in both the initial survey in 2016 and the follow-up survey in 2019. First of all, 288 regular employees (221 men and 67 females of mean age 45.6 years, SD = 9.0) who worked in the medical services and welfare industries at the time of both surveys were identified. Of these, 115 presented with depressive symptoms by CES-D scale (39.9%), indicating a higher ratio compared to other occupations. Following this, for the 173 respondents who did not present with depressive symptoms in the initial survey but developed depressive symptoms during the three years following the initial survey, changes (favorable, improved, no change, deteriorated, unfavorable) in occupational stressors were analyzed using explanatory variables. As the results of logistic regression analysis, at the time of the follow-up survey, 32 respondents presented with symptoms of depression (18.5%), and environmental work stress (noise, lighting, temperature, ventilation, etc.) and interpersonal stress at work (unfavorable stress conditions at the time of both surveys) significantly affect the onset of these symptoms. Many medical services and welfare workers are required to suppress their own emotions as they go about their busy daily duties of caring for others, and this study suggests that they are working under highly stressful conditions. There is a strong sense that the workplace has reached an impasse, and a new approach is needed in a bid to revitalize the organization and create attractive company structures, as well as improve the physical working environment.
KW - Depressive symptoms
KW - Interpersonal relationships
KW - Medical services and welfare workers
KW - Nudge
KW - Work environment
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U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-51549-2_41
DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-51549-2_41
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85088561214
SN - 9783030515485
T3 - Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing
SP - 309
EP - 315
BT - Advances in Physical, Social and Occupational Ergonomics - Proceedings of the AHFE 2020 Virtual Conferences on Physical Ergonomics and Human Factors, Social and Occupational Ergonomics and Cross-Cultural Decision Making
A2 - Karwowski, Waldemar
A2 - Goonetilleke, Ravindra S.
A2 - Xiong, Shuping
A2 - Goossens, Richard H.M.
A2 - Murata, Atsuo
PB - Springer
Y2 - 16 July 2020 through 20 July 2020
ER -