Work environment and job stress for medical professionals between Japan and the U.S.

本研究旨在探讨日本与美国医护人员，尤其是护士在工作环境与工作压力方面的差异。最终目标是获得解决每个国家医疗专业人员与工作有关的心理健康问题的良好策略。1993-1994年进行了两项试点研究（日本和美国试验点；分别为197和28个有效案例）和一项主要研究（日本试验点；1065个有效案例），采用自我管理问卷测量工作压力和心理健康状况。通过对两国试点研究的分析，认为工作压力和心理健康评估量表是可靠和有效的。结果表明，日本护士在工作/加班时间多、工作任务多不属于自己的情况下，对工作的抑郁和不满意程度更高，从丈夫/妻子和家人/朋友那里获得的支持较少，对工作场所的工作控制较少，对工作未来的模糊性更有压力。此外，在日本卫生专业人员中，医院护士被发现比公共卫生护士和助产士更抑郁，更强调工作未来的不确定性，对工作的满意度更低。因此，日本护士的工作环境应在几个方面得到改善，以防止各种心理健康问题。为了进一步分析，特别是两国之间的精确比较，美国的主要研究现在已经准备好进行了。

The objective of this study is to investigate the difference of work environment and job stress between Japanese and the U.S.medical professionals, especially nurses. The final goal is to obtain good strategy for solving work-related mental health problems of medical professionals in each country.With self-administered questionnaires measuring job stress and mental health status, two pilot studies (Japan and the U.S.site ; 197 and 28 effective cases, respectively) and one main study (Japan site ; 1065 effective cases) were carried out in 1993-1994. The scales for assessing job stress and mental health were considered to be reliable and valid after analyzes of the pilot studies in both countries.The results suggest that Japanese nurse are more depressed and not satisfied with their job, having less support from their husband/wife and their family/friends, less job control in their work places, and more stress on job future ambiguity, in the circumstances on much working/extra-working time and much tasks that they do not regard as their own. Also, among Japanese health professionals, hospital nurses are found to be more depressed, more stressed on job future ambiguity, and less satisfied with their job than public health nurses nad midwifes.Thus, several aspects of the work circumstances for Japanese nurses should be improved to prevent various mental health troubles. For further analyzes, especially for exact comparison between the two countries, main study in the U.S.site are now ready to be conducted.