Background factors that affect whether employees can return to work after long sickness absences or not

2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21791148
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Psychiatric science
• Research Institution: Jikei University School of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: NAKAMURA Koji Jikei University School of Medicine, 医学部, 助教 (00291691)
• Project Period (FY): 2009 – 2010
• Keywords: 産業精神医学 / メンタルヘルス / 休職 / 職場環境 / 完全主義傾向 / 自尊感情

Research Abstract

This study attempted to determine the factors that affect the status of employees after one and two years after absence from work because of common mental disorders.
A cohort of 78 employees on sick leave due to psychiatric disorders (F3 and F4 in ICD-10) completed a self-report survey at the baseline and were followed up for one and two years. The survey items included: age, gender, presence/absence of a spouse and children, working and overtime hours, frequency of changing jobs, psychological stress in and outside the workplace, satisfaction with work, support from families and companies, relationships with others, GAF score, and duration of absence from work. Questionnaires and scales, including the GHQ-30, MPS, NEO-FFI and RSS, were also used. Statistic analysis revealed that "state of work after 1 year" was markedly associated with "psychological stress outside the work" and "conscientiousness". For employees with common mental disorders, psychological stress outside the workplace is more significant than that in the workplace and it affect whether they could return to work or not. Therefore, psychiatrists need to be mindful about psychological stress outside, as well as within, the workplace when dealing with such patients.

Research Products

• [Journal Article] Psychological stress factors related to depression in white-collar workers : within or outside the workplace? (2011)
  • Author(s): Koji Nakamura , Hikaru Seto, Shinji Okino, Kazuya Ono, Makiko Ogasawara, Yuka Shibamoto, Toshihiko Agata, Kazuhiko Nakayama
  • Journal Title: IMJ in printing
• [Journal Article] 中年期の就労と自我同一性危機 (2010)
  • Author(s): 中村晃士、瀬戸光、沖野慎治、頴原禎人、小野和哉、中山和彦
  • Journal Title: 精神科治療学 25巻5号 Pages: 673-679
• [Presentation] 長期休職した精神科外来通院患者の 1年後の復職状況に影響を与える背景因子の男女比較 (2011)
  • Author(s): 中村晃士、山尾あゆみ、加藤英里、瀬戸光、沖野慎治、小野和哉、中山和彦
  • Organizer: 第30回日本社会精神医学会
  • Place of Presentation: 奈良
  • Year and Date: 2011-03-04
• [Presentation] Which factors affect whether employees can return to work after long absences? A prospective study among employees with common mental disorders. (2010)
  • Author(s): K Nakamura, A Yamao, E Kato, H Seto, S Okino, S Shinagawa, T Ito, K Obuchi, K Ono, W Yamadera, K Nukariya, H Sue, H Miyata, M Ogasawara, Y Shibamoto, T Agata, K Nakayama
  • Organizer: 20^<th> World Congress of Social Psychiatry
  • Place of Presentation: Marrakech, Morocco
  • Year and Date: 2010-10-24
• [Presentation] 最近のIT技術者のうつ傾向の背景因子について-他職種との比較から- (2010)
  • Author(s): 中村晃士, 瀬戸光, 沖野慎治、小野和哉、中山和彦
  • Organizer: 第29回日本社会精神医学会
  • Place of Presentation: 松江
  • Year and Date: 2010-02-25
• [Presentation] Long absence from the work of the psychiatric outpatients in Japan. (2009)
  • Author(s): K Nakamura, S Shinagawa, M Sato, K Obuchi, T Ito, K Ono, W Yamadera, K Nukariya, H Sue, H Miyata, M Ogasawara, K Umezu, F Nakahara, Y Shibamoto, T Agata, K Nakayama
  • Organizer: World Congress of the World Federation for Mental Health
  • Place of Presentation: Athens, Greece
  • Year and Date: 2009-09-06