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

本研究的目的是探讨日本和美国医疗专业人员，特别是护士的工作环境和工作压力的差异。本研究在1993-1994年进行了两项试点研究（日本和U.S.site;分别为197和28例有效病例）和一项主研究（日本网站; 1065例有效病例），采用自填问卷测量工作压力和心理健康状况。结果表明，日本护士的工作压力和心理健康水平较低，对工作不满意，缺乏来自丈夫/妻子和家人/朋友的支持，对工作场所的工作控制感较低，对工作前景的不确定感较强，在这种情况下，他们花了很多工作/业余时间，做了很多他们不认为是自己的工作。此外，在日本的医疗专业人员中，医院护士比公共卫生护士和助产士更抑郁，对工作前景的不确定性更有压力，对工作的满意度更低。因此，日本护士的工作环境应该从几个方面加以改善，以防止各种心理健康问题。为了进一步分析，特别是两国之间的准确比较，现在可以在U.S.site上进行主要研究。

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.