Open AccessEffect of the National Stress Check Program on mental health among workers in Japan: A 1‐year retrospective cohort study
Author(s) -
Imamura Kotaro,
Asai Yumi,
Watanabe Kazuhiro,
Tsutsumi Akizumi,
Shimazu Akihito,
Inoue Akiomi,
Hiro Hisanori,
Odagiri Yuko,
Yoshikawa Toru,
Yoshikawa Etsuko,
Kawakami Norito
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of occupational health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 59
ISSN - 1348-9585
DOI - 10.1539/joh.2017-0314-oa
Subject(s) - psychosocial , medicine , distress , mental health , retrospective cohort study , psychological distress , cohort , cohort study , clinical psychology , demography , psychiatry , sociology , pathology
Objectives This retrospective cohort study evaluated the impact of the Stress Check Program, a recently introduced national policy and program aimed at reducing psychological distress among Japanese workers. Methods A baseline survey was conducted from November 2015 to February 2016, the period when Japan began enforcing the Stress Check Program. A one‐year follow‐up survey was conducted in December 2016. In the follow‐up survey, two exposure variables were collected: having taken the annual stress survey, and experiencing an improvement in the psychosocial work environment. Psychological distress was assessed using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) at baseline and 1‐year follow‐up. The two exposure variables were used to define four groups: “Neither”, “Stress survey (SS) only ”, “Psychosocial work environment improvement (WI) only”, and “Both”. BJSQ results were analyzed using repeated measures general linear modeling (GLM). Results The study included 2,492 participants: 1,342 in the “Neither” group, 1,009 in the “SS only” group, 76 in the “WI only” group, and 65 in the “Both” group. Overall time‐group interaction effects were not significant. The “Both” group showed significantly greater improvements in psychological distress than the “Neither” group ( p = 0.02) at the 1‐year follow‐up, although the effect size was small (d = ‐0.14). Conclusions Combination of the annual stress survey and improvement in psychosocial work environment may have been effective in reducing psychological distress in workers, although the effect size was small.