Impaired self-monitoring ability on reaction times of psychomotor vigilance task of nurses after a night shift.

The cognitive ability to self-monitor one's current performance is important for hospital nurses to maintain safety and health. However, studies on the effects of rotating shift work on self-monitoring ability are insufficient. We examined the differences in self-monitoring accuracy across shifts in a rotating three-shift system among 30 female ward nurses (mean age 28.2 years). Their self-monitoring ability was calculated by subtracting the predicted reaction times of the psychomotor vigilance task performed just before exiting the workplace from the actual reaction times. A mixed-effect model was employed to assess the effects of shift, awake hours, and prior sleep duration on self-monitoring ability. We observed impaired self-monitoring ability in nurses, particularly after the night shift. Although actual performance remained high across all shifts, their self-predictions on reaction times became pessimistic in the night shift, resulting in a difference of approximately-100 msec. The effect of the shift on self-monitoring was obvious even after adjusting for sleep duration and hours awake. Our findings indicate that the misalignment between their working hours and circadian rhythms may affect even professional nurses. Occupational management that emphasizes maintaining circadian rhythms will improve the safety and health of nurses.

Shift-Work Schedule Intervention for Extending Restart Breaks after Consecutive Night Shifts: A Non-randomized Controlled Cross-Over Study.

More knowledge is required to determine the optimal shiftwork schedule to reduce the harmful effects of short restart breaks between shifts. This 5-month intervention study aimed to examine the effectiveness of extended restart breaks from 31 h to 55 h after consecutive night shifts by considering the characteristics of the circadian rhythm to mitigate fatigue and sleep among 30 shift-working nurses. Subjective and objective variables, such as vital exhaustion, distress, hair cortisol, salivary C-reactive protein, and sleep mattress sensor sensation, were repeatedly measured to examine the differences between the intervention and control conditions. Two-way (condition × time) multilevel analyses showed significantly lower levels of vital exhaustion and distress in the intervention condition (p = 0.005 and p = 0.004, respectively). However, the expected benefit of the intervention was not observed in objectively measured variables. These findings suggested that an extended restart break after consecutive night shifts can moderately decrease occupational fatigue and stress.

The Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 in Japanese university students.

The psychometric properties of the Japanese Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 (TOSCA-3), a self-report measure of self-conscious emotions, were examined in Japanese university students. Confirmatory factor analyses showed good fits of the theory-driven model for 6 emotions to the data. The subscales of the TOSCA-3 showed moderate correlations and internal consistency. Only the Shame subscale was greater among younger students, but women had higher shame and guilt than men. Social desirability moderately influenced some subscales. Test-retest reliability was good for shame and guilt. Time 1 shame predicted time 2 depression a week later. The Japanese version of the TOSCA-3 is a reliable and valid measure of self-conscious emotions among a Japanese population.