[Study on the applicability of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire based on classical test theory and item response theory].

Objective: To evaluate the quality and item characteristics of the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) among employees in manufacturing and service industries. Methods: From December 2021 to December 2022, a total of 2077 employees from 4 manufacturing and service enterprises in Beijing were selected by the method of combining purpose sampling and convenience sampling. The Chinese version of BJSQ was used to carry out a survey on occupational stress from 57 items in 4 dimensions including job stress factors, stress response, social support factors and satisfaction. Classical test theory (CTT) was used to analyze the validity and reliability of the questionnaire. The Semejima hierarchical response model in item response theory (IRT) was used to analyze the differentiation a, difficulty coefficient b and information content of each item. Results: Among the 2077 subjects, the age M (Q(1), Q(3)) was 33 (28, 37) years old, and the working age M (Q(1), Q(3)) was 4 (2, 8) years. There were 723 (34.8%) people in manufacturing industry and 1354 (65.2%) people in service industry. Eleven common factors were extracted by exploratory factor analysis, with a cumulative variance contribution rate of 62.823%, the variance of the common factors of each entry ranging from 0.451 to 0.865, and the range of factor loading values from 0.413 to 0.825, with 5 items having cross-loadings. The results of the validation factor analysis showed that the model fit indexes of root means square error of approximation was 0.055, comparative fit index was 0.950, Tucker Lewis index was 0.948, and standardized root mean square was 0.066. Content validity results showed that the total scores of the Chinese version of the BJSQ were positively correlated with the scores of the 4 dimensions (r(s)=0.487-0.936, P<0.05) . The results of the reliability analysis showed that the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the total questionnaire was 0.945, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficients of job stress factors, stress response and social support factors were 0.775, 0.957, and 0.830, respectively. The Spearman-Brown coefficient for the total questionnaire was 0.866, and for the 3 dimensions, it was 0.572, 0.882 and 0.772. The results of IRT analysis showed that only 1 of the 57 items had a differentiation a-value<0.30, the difficulty coefficient b-value of each item ranged from -12.02 to 11.09, of which 8 items had a difficulty coefficient that was too high, 3 items had a difficulty coefficient that was too low, and 3 items did not meet the requirements, and the average amount of information in each item ranged from 0.022 to 2.566, and there were 47 items with average amount of information>0.088 (5/57) . Conclusion: The Chinese version of BJSQ has good reliability and validity in the typical occupational groups of manufacturing and service industries in China, and most of the items have good performance, but some items still need to be further improved and optimized or deleted.

Work Environment-related Stress Factors are Correlated with Diabetes Development in Workers with Impaired Glucose Tolerance: A 5-year Follow-up Study Using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ).

Several previous studies have investigated the effects of occupational stress on the onset of diabetes mellitus (DM), but there are few studies of occupational stress and DM using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ), a standard stress check method in Japan. This study aimed to determine the relationship between occupational stress factors and the onset of DM using the BJSQ. We examined 6,620 male company workers aged 40 years and above in 2013, using the BJSQ. Overall, 2,604 subjects with impaired glucose tolerance who were free of mental disorders and DM were followed-up for 5 years and re-examined in 2017. A retrospective data analysis was conducted in 2019. We documented 241 new cases of DM in 2017 (diabetes group). Compared with the non-diabetes group, the subjects in the diabetes group had significantly decreased "skill utilization". A binomial logistic regression analysis (generalized linear model) revealed that "skill utilization" was associated with the risk of DM development in 2017 (odds ratio, 1.632; 95% confidence interval, 1.061-2.510). Our results showed that low skill utilization might increase the risk of diabetes development in Japanese male workers.

Work-Related Stress of Work from Home with Housemates Based on Residential Types.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on work environments. Many workers have been requested or instructed to work from home (WFH). This study aimed to clarify the work-related stress of WFH regarding housemates based on residential types during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted a web-based questionnaire survey of 500 workers living with housemates in Osaka Prefecture. The WFH environments were analyzed on the basis of high-stress workers (HSWs), which accounted for 17.4% of all subjects, according to three major types of residences in Japan. The main finding is that HSWs with housemates had problems related to noise regardless of the type of residence. This study of workers living with housemates in an urban area contrasts with the findings of preceding study, which found that satisfaction with noise in the environment was higher at home than in the office. HSWs in detached houses and condominium apartments had problems with the levels of noise created by their housemates. The residents living in these types of residences were found to be relatively older, thus potentially having older children who would require a certain level of privacy. WFH workers with insufficient privacy were unable to adapt to WFH environments and suffered from high stress.

The background and current state of implementing a legal system for stress checks in Japan.

This paper discusses the development process, outline, main design points, post-enactment operation, and related research trends based on my own experiences from the formulation of the stress check system. Additionally, it surveys related literature and is the first of its kind to discuss future developments from a legal point of view. The ultimate purpose of the stress check system is to stimulate concrete measures for workplace environment improvements. However, despite frequent group analysis, effective measures for improving the environment have been limited. In this paper, based on past studies, I argue that reduced stress and other effects can be observed in workplaces in which such measures have been implemented, providing qualitative outcomes for workers. In addition, basic data can and has been accumulated for subsequent policies and measures. I conclude that realizing human and organizational individuality as well as supporting growth and environmental adaptation are key to the implementation of effective mental health measures.

Occupational stress among healthcare workers in Japan.

BACKGROUND: High distress levels in healthcare workers in Japan may deteriorate safe service provision. OBJECTIVE: To clarify job stress of healthcare workers, we compared Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) scores among physicians, nursing staff and administrative workers. METHODS: Healthcare workers (n=9,137) in 20 hospitals in Japan were asked to answer BJSQ. BJSQ is job stress questionnaire to measure "Job Stressors", "Stress Responses" and "Social Supports". RESULTS: The "Total Health Risk" of the healthcare workers was 10% higher than the national average. While the physicians felt the stress of the quantitative and qualitative job overload, they had support from supervisors and coworkers and showed mild "Stress Responses". The nursing staff felt the stress of the quantitative and qualitative job overload at the same level as the physicians, but they did not have sufficient support from supervisors and coworkers, and showed high "Stress Responses". The administrative workers did not have sufficient support from supervisors and coworkers, but they experienced less stress as measured by the quantitative and qualitative job overload than the physicians or the nursing staff and showed moderate "Stress Responses". CONCLUSIONS: Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms and the influence of other factors to the stress trait in healthcare workers.