Effect of the National Stress Check Program on mental health among workers in Japan : A 1-year retrospective cohort study

• Published in: Journal of Occupational Health Vol. 60; no. 4; pp. 298 - 306
• Main Authors: Imamura, Kotaro, Asai, Yumi, Watanabe, Kazuhiro, Tsutsumi, Akizumi, Shimazu, Akihito, Inoue, Akiomi, Hiro, Hisanori, Odagiri, Yuko, Yoshikawa, Toru, Yoshikawa, Etsuko, Kawakami, Norito
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Japanese; English
• Published: Japan JAPAN SOCIETY FOR OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH 01.07.2018; John Wiley & Sons, Inc; Japan Society for Occupational Health
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Cohort analysis; Exposure; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Health Surveys; Humans; Japan; Male; Mental Health; Middle Aged; National policy; Occupational Health; Occupational Stress - diagnosis; Occupational Stress - prevention & control; Original; Program Evaluation; Psychological stress; Psychosocial work environment improvement; Retrospective Studies; Social interactions; Stress check; Work environment; Workers; Working conditions; Workplace - psychology; Young Adult; Japan; National policy; Psychosocial work environment improvement; Stress check; Workers; Mental health
• ISSN: 1341-9145; 1348-9585; 1348-9585
• DOI: 10.1539/joh.2017-0314-OA

[Abstract] : [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.