Association Between Deviation of Fairness Perceptions from Group Average and Serious Psychological Distress in Japanese Worksites: a Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Workers with deviating fairness perceptions are likely to be excluded and become isolated at worksites, leading to psychological distress. The study aimed to examine the cross-sectional association between deviation of fairness perception from the group average and serious psychological distress in Japanese worksites. METHODS: Secondary data analysis of an existing Japanese occupational cohort data using a multilevel logistic regression model was conducted for 8701 workers from 12 companies in Japan who participated in the baseline survey (from April 2010 to March 2012). Individual perception of interactional and procedural fairness was measured with the Japanese version of the Organizational Justice Scale. Group averages were calculated within workers' reference groups, categorized by company affiliation, age group, gender, and occupational class. Psychological distress was measured using the K6 scale, and serious psychological distress was defined as a total K6 score of 13 or more. RESULTS: Both low deviation and high deviation of interactional fairness perception were significantly and positively associated with serious psychological distress (odds ratio (OR) = 1.24, 95% confidence intervals (CI); 1.03-1.49 and OR = 1.57, 95% CI; 1.12-2.19), independently of individual-level fairness perception, group-level mean fairness perception, demographic characteristics, and health-related behaviors. Only high deviation of procedural fairness perception was significantly and positively related to serious psychological distress (OR = 1.51, 95% CI; 1.11-2.06). CONCLUSIONS: The results indicated that divergent perceptions of fairness at worksites may deserve further exploration for equal achievement of workers' psychological well-being.

Needs of persons with dementia and their family caregivers in dementia cafés.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Several studies have shown the effectiveness and diversity of dementia cafés, whereas there are few published articles in academic research focusing on what persons with dementia and their family caregivers need and whether the services provided satisfy their needs. This study aimed to identify the needs of persons with dementia and their family caregivers participating in dementia cafés in Japan. METHODS: Interviews and participant observations were conducted in nine dementia cafés. Study participants were persons with dementia, their caregivers, and the staff in dementia cafés. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A total of 24 participants were recruited. Needs for persons with dementia were subdivided into five categories: to express their feelings about their current condition; to be accommodated through consideration of their physical and cognitive status; for changes in their health conditions to be noticed; to enjoy entertainment; and to keep in touch with others inside and outside of the dementia café. Needs for family caregivers were subdivided into four subcategories: to express their feelings such as anxiety and guilt and complaints regarding caregiving; to consult about difficulties in daily life; to listen to other family caregivers' experiences; and to keep in touch with others inside and outside of the dementia café. The needs of persons with dementia and family caregivers differ partly. CONCLUSIONS: Dementia cafés should create programmes and comfortable environments answering to the differences of their needs.

Smoking behavior prevalence in one's personal social network and peer's popularity: A population-based study of middle-aged adults in Japan.

Although previous social network studies have consistently shown the social influence of peers' smoking on one's (ego's) smoking, few studies have examined how the influence differs according to peers' structural positions in the network. Investigations are also lacking on whether vulnerability to the influence varies by ego's socioeconomic position. Thus, the present study aimed to examine how the association between peers' smoking and ego's smoking differs by peers' popularity in ego's personal network and ego's educational attainment. We used data from the third-wave Japanese Study on Stratification, Health, Income, and Neighborhood (J-SHINE) conducted in 2017, which targeted middle-aged (32-58-year-old) residents in four municipalities within Japanese metropolitan areas. Information on four close peers' characteristics and behaviors and their mutual relationships was collected by the name generator and name interpreter methods. Data on 1989 respondents and 7956 peers were evaluated. Peers' eigenvector centrality was used as their popularity index in ego's personal network. We set ego's smoking as an outcome, regressed on each peer's smoking, each peer's popularity, and ego's educational attainment adjusting for ego's age, sex, working status, marital status, spouse's/partner's smoking status, as well as similarity in socioeconomic backgrounds between peer and ego, using a logistic regression model with robust standard errors. We then added a three-way interaction term for these three explanatory variables to the model. Results showed that peer's smoking status was related to ego's smoking even more strongly when the peer was popular but only in the case of ego with lower educational attainment. The results suggested that the disparity in smoking behavior across socioeconomic positions may be partly explained by susceptibility to social influence from one's personal network among the socioeconomically vulnerable. This study proposes a plausible method for pinpointing the peer influencer in one's personal social network to close the socioeconomic gap in smoking.