Kimio Tarumi

Media suicide-reports, Internet use and the occurrence of suicides between 1987 and 2005 in Japan

BackgroundPrevious investigations regarding the effects of suicide reports in the media on suicide incidence in Japan have been limited and inconclusive and, although Internet use has greatly increased, its influence on suicide is completely unknown. Thus, the relationship between newspaper articles about suicide, Internet use, and the incidence of suicide in Japan was examined.MethodsA linear model was fitted to time series data from January 1987 to March 2005 (218 months).ResultsConsistent with previous findings, the number of newspaper articles about suicide was a predictor of suicide among both male and female subjects. Internet use was also a predictor of suicide among males, probably because males spent more time online than females.ConclusionBecause this is the first, preliminary study examining the association between Internet use and suicide, further research is required to verify the present findings.

Social support at work as a buffer of work stress-strain relationship : A signal detection approach

With respect to the stress-buffering effects of social support at work upon stressor–strain relationships, some studies report the effects while others do not despite similarities of methods. Some reasons for the inconsistencies across studies might be due to the absence of assessing social support dimensions and work stressors. In the present study, data concerning social support at work, work stressors and mental stress among white-collar workers in Japan (N=416) were analysed using signal detection analysis to determine how individual social support variables interact with stressor variables. Two types of higher-order interactions involving social support variables were observed. It is suggested that certain types of social support at work could be effective in redressing the impact of work stressors, but only for certain types of workers who have specific multiple work stressors. These findings were also useful for practical application to domestic occupational health problems.

Type A and type behaviors and factors related to job satisfaction among male white-collar workers

Numerous studies have examined the health effects of Type A behavior and job satisfaction/dissatisfaction, but we know very little about the relationship between aspects of the work environment related to job satisfaction and the Type A behavior pattern. In the present study, we analyzed data concerning work Stressors, private aspects of life, and job satisfaction among male white-collar workers (n=657) in a large steel company, and identified the respective aspects of the work environment related to job satisfaction among groups divided by Type A/B behavior patterns.We found that the nature of predictors for job satisfaction varied with the behavior type. “Being not busy at work” (p<0.001) and “working more than 10 hours per day” (p<0.05) were significant predictors of job satisfaction among the Type A workers while “working less than 10 hours per day” (p<0.05) and “can learn new things at work” (p<0.01) were significant predictors of job satisfaction among the Type workers. “Work performance is evaluated” was a significant predictor of job satisfaction among all three behavior types (A, B, and A/B).Our results can provide information useful for the creation of programs to lower the level of job dissatisfaction and mental stress depending upon the behavior type of employees.

Physician and Patient Perceptions of the Physician Explanations in Medical Encounters

Although, in actual practice, physicians have to subjectively judge the level of the explanation that they provide, little is known about this judgment. Therefore, making use of 630 physician-patient pairs in Japan, we investigated the association between patient and physician evaluations of physician explanations of medical test results and diagnoses. We found that the physician’s judgment does not always agree with that of the patient, with regard to the level of explanation necessary. In addition, we first identified factors relating to the accuracy of physician judgments with regard to their explanations to patients. More studies will be necessary to verify the present findings.

Work stressors, drinking with colleagues after work, and job satisfaction among white-collar workers in Japan

Although previous studies have examined the buffering effects of social support and coping style on the relationship between stress and alcohol consumption, they have typically relied on analysis of variance (ANOVA) or regression analysis. In addition, few studies have examined the potential stress-buffering effects of drinking with coworkers after work on the relationship between job stress and job dissatisfaction. In the present study, using a signal detection analysis, we evaluated the interactions of drinking with coworkers after work and work-stressor variables among Japanese white-collar workers (n = 397) in 1997. The analysis was performed for two groups of subjects divided based on their status in the company. This was necessary because in Japan the obligations to drink socially increase with ones rising status in the company. In both the “staff members and lower-level managers” and “middle-level and higher-level managers” groups, an interaction between work-stressor variables and drinking variables was observed. The findings imply that drinking with coworkers after work ameliorated the sense of job dissatisfaction, but only among those subjects who already had lower levels of work stressors. For subjects with high levels of work stressors, attitudes toward drinking with coworkers were unrelated to job satisfaction levels.

An investigation into the effects of vacations on the health status in male white-collar workers.

There are many stress factors in occupational settings, and the lack of vacations could be one of factors in the context of work stress. The authors have been studying the relationship between workload and employee health. This time, an investigation into the effects of leisure vacations on worker health status using male white-collar employees aged 20–60 years engaged in a manufacturing company was conducted. The subjects were questioned on work stress factors including vacations and modifiers in their occupational settings, and on psychological and physiological stress reactions; that is, how often they were able to take leisure vacations every year, their average working hours a day and work stress factors from the Demand-Control-Support model. The questions also examined other factors concerning the employees such as type-A behavior and lifestyles as modifiers, diseases of the employees, physical complaints, feelings about sleep, perceived stress, job and life satisfaction, and stress reactions as measured by physiological examination. Correlation and logistic regression analysis were conducted with the 551 eligible subjects. The results were as follows: Leisure vacation was decreasingly related to some of psychological stress reactions after adjustment was made for working hours and for modifiers. Less vacation was increasingly related to the workers’ diseases especially among the employees aged 20–34, though the association was not statistically significant. Vacations did not show obvious association with physiological measures. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness and possibility of leisure vacation in controlling fatigue and maintaining the health of workers. Vacation should always be taken into consideration as a stress factor in a survey of the health problems of white-collar workers.

Moderating Effects of Psychological Job Strain on the Relationship between Working Hours and Health: An Examination of White-Collar Workers Employed by a Japanese Manufacturing Company

Moderating Effects of Psychological Job Strain on the Relationship between Working Hours and Health: An Examination of White‐Collar Workers Employed by a Japanese Manufacturing Company: Kimio Tarumi, et al. Section of Postgraduates Guidance, University of Occupational and Environmental Health—The effects of working hours on health were examined taking psychological job strain into account. White‐collar workers employed at the main office of a Japanese manufacturing company provided data for analysis done in 1997. The eligible subjects were 286 workers aged 20–39. Causal relationships between working hours, health, and psychological job strain were examined by covariance structure analyses. The main findings were as follows: Not only working hours but also sleeping hours and vacations affected the workers’ effort to deal with work as a work‐related hour factor. Decision authority and skill discretion of Karaseks psychological job strain items significantly constituted a discretion in the work factor, and this factor moderated the effects of the work‐related hour factor on health. The effects of psychological job strain, especially discretion, must always be taken into account in examinations of working hours and health.

Quality of life domains in the healthy public: A trial investigation using attendants for an annual health checkup

A trial investigation of subjects gathered for annual health checkups was performed to detect domains of quality of life in the healthy public, and to explore the changes of their demographic characteristics for the possibility of engaging them in health service activities in the community. The eligible 1,096 subjects aged 30–79 years were investigated. The period of this survey was from September to December, 1997. The subjects were questioned using ten quality of life domains which were preliminarily prepared and had been assumed to be most important in the subjects’ lives in relation to the order of priority, importance, and satisfaction levels. The first most important domain in both the male and female subjects’ lives was personal health, followed by relationships with family, though the mean importance scores for their personal health and relationships with family were almost equivalent. The mean scores for work abruptly decreased in males over 60 years of age. Also, the first large and the second relatively small principal components were extracted through principal components analysis. The proposed ten domains of quality of life are most likely valid and reliable in terms of the results analyzed and the comparison with a referred study. Relationships with family is an effective cue for health service activities in the community, and the significance of work on quality of life in the healthy public will have to be taken into account separately, especially in males.

The association between annually-repeated health screening and health behavior among company employees.

Although several studies have been undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of health screening in causing changes in health-related behavior, there are few findings with respect to the efficacy of annually repeated health screening.Using cross-sectional data drawn from a population consisting of white-collar workers in Osaka, Japan, the relation between the results of annually repeated health screening and individual health behavior was examined.Several diseases were related to diet and alcohol consumption, but not to physical exercise habits. High γ-GTP or alcoholic liver damage and hypertension were related to moderate alcohol consumption (p<0.001 and 0.05). A high cholesterol level was related to a nutritionally balanced diet (p<0.05). However, there were no diseases related to increased physical exercise.Findings in the present study, in combination with the literature indicate the possibility that annually repeated health screening intervention has been effective in promoting positive lifestyle changes in diet and alcohol consumption among participants. However, to conclusively evaluate the effucacy of the annually repeated health screening, further study is necessary.