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Introduction: Participatory organizational interventions to improve psychosocial working conditions are important for a safe and healthy work environment. However, there are few systematic reviews or meta-analyses investigating the effects of these interventions on workers' mental health and work-related outcomes. We intend to apply the protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the effect of participatory organizational intervention on mental health and work performance., Methods and Analysis: The participants, interventions, comparisons, and outcomes (PICO) of the studies in this systematic review and meta-analysis are defined as follows: (P) inclusion of all workers, (I) participatory organizational intervention, (C) treatment as usual or no intervention (including waitlist control), and (O) mental health and work performance. Published studies will be searched using the following electronic databases: PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, PsycArticles, and Japan Medical Abstracts Society. Studies that (1) include participatory organizational intervention, (2) include participants who were working as of the baseline survey period, (3) assess mental health or work performance outcomes, (4) use a cluster randomized controlled trials design, (5) are published in English or Japanese, and (6) are published in peer-reviewed journals (including advanced online publication) will be included. Study selection and the risk-of-bias assessment will be performed independently by 2 reviewers. A meta-analysis will be performed to statistically synthesize the included studies. Publication bias will be assessed for meta-bias using Egger's test as well as visually on a funnel plot. We will assess heterogeneity by using the Q statistic., (© The Author(s) [2024]. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Journal of Occupational Health.)

Objectives: This cross-sectional study aimed to examine the associations of a poor working environment at home with psychological distress and psychosomatic symptoms in employees working from home in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: The data obtained in October 2021 from an online cohort of full-time employees (E- COCO- J) were used. Participants who worked from home for at least some days per month were included. The poor working environment at home was assessed using 11 items based on the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare recommended checklist. The score ranged from 0 to 11. Psychological distress and psychosomatic symptoms were measured by the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ). The associations between total scores of poor working environment and outcomes were examined by multiple regression analysis, adjusted by age, sex, education, living with family, frequencies of working from home, company size, job demand, job control, and workplace social support., Results: Two hundred twenty-six employees who were working at home were included. The mean of the summed scores of poor working environments at home was 2.75. After adjusting the covariates, summed scores of poor working environments were significantly associated with high psychological distress (standardized β = 0.21, P = .003) and with high psychosomatic symptoms (β = 0.19, P = .005). For each poor environment, lack of ventilation and difficulty staying hydrated or resting were significantly associated with both outcomes., Conclusions: Even after adjusting for job stressors and support, working environments at home were associated with employees' mental health. Appropriate measures and education may be needed., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Participatory organizational interventions offer an effective way to promote occupational safety and health. Despite an increasing number of studies, a common definition of participatory organizational interventions has yet to be established. Therefore, we aimed to form a definition using the following process. First, we developed a tentative draft definition of organizational interventions and participatory elements, based on the relevant literature. The tentative definition was revised in several rounds of an extensive discussion by the authors. This resulted in the draft definition. We asked 15 selected international experts in occupational safety and health to review and comment on the draft definition. We carefully reviewed their comments, and formulated our final proposed definition. To summarize the key points of the final version of the definition, organizational interventions are planned actions that primarily directly target working conditions with the aim of promoting and maintaining of the highest degree of physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations. In addition, as participatory elements of organizational interventions in the final definition, ideally, all workers participate in every step of the intervention, while participating in part of the steps of the intervention in some cases. Furthermore, in principle, all workers participate in each step of intervention, while it is also acceptable that only elected representatives among workers participate in the intervention., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Objectives: This study aimed to examine the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the eight-item CREW Civility Scale which measures workplace civility norms and compare the civility scores among various occupations., Methods: A longitudinal study included all employees in a social care organization (N = 658) and a cross-sectional study included all civil servants in one city (N = 3242) in Japan. Structural validity was tested through confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Construct validity was assessed through Pearson's correlations of civility with other variables. Internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and 1-year test-retest reliability was assessed by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC)., Results: The results of CFA showed an acceptable level of model fit (TLI =0.929; CFI =0.949; and SRMR =0.034). CREW Civility Scale scores were significantly positively correlated with supervisor support, co-worker support, and work engagement, while significantly negatively correlated with incivility, workplace bullying, intention to leave, and psychological distress, which were consistent with our hypotheses. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.93 and ICC was 0.52. Younger, high-educated, and managerial employees and, childminder/nursery staff reported higher civility. High school graduates and respondents who did not graduate from high school, part-time employees, nurses, paramedical staff, and care workers reported lower civility., Conclusions: The Japanese version of the CREW Civility scale is a reliable, valid measure of civility, appropriate for Japanese workplaces as well as for use in multi-national studies alongside other existing versions of this scale in English, Portuguese and Farsi., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Objectives: This prospective study aimed to examine the association of psychosocial working conditions with adverse reactions after receiving COVID-19 vaccination in a sample of employees in Japan., Methods: The data were retrieved from an online panel of full-time employees (E-COCO-J). The analysis included participants who were employed and were not vaccinated at baseline (June 2021) but received vaccination at a 4-month follow-up (October 2021). An 11-item scale measured the adverse reactions. Four types of psychosocial working conditions (i.e., job demands, job control, and supervisor and coworker support) were measured using the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationship between the psychosocial working conditions and adverse reactions of COVID-19 vaccines, adjusting for socioeconomic variables, chronic disease, the number of vaccination, type of vaccine, anxiety for adverse reactions, fear and worry about COVID-19, and psychological distress at baseline., Results: Overall, 747 employees were included in the analysis. The average number of adverse reactions was 3.8 (standard deviation = 2.2): Arm pain (81.1%), fatigues (64.1%), muscle pains (63.3%), and fever (37.5°C+) (53.5%) were reported more frequently. Coworker support score was significantly and negatively associated with the numbers of adverse reactions (standardized β = -0.100, P = .023). Women, young age, second-time vaccination, Moderna, and high psychological distress were significantly associated with adverse reactions., Conclusions: Employees with low coworker support may be more likely to have adverse reactions after vaccinations. The findings of this study could support that increasing workplace support may reduce adverse reactions., (© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Objectives: This study aims to clarify dietitians' effort-reward imbalance (ERI) and examine its association with psychologic distress., Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted. A total of 3593 questionnaires were distributed to dietitians in about 110 organizations and 1890 responses were received (response rate 52.6%). Hence, a total of 1743 valid questionnaires were used in the analysis. Effort-reward (ER) ratio was measured by a subscale of the ERI Questionnaire, and psychologic distress was measured by the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K6). The association between the ER ratio and psychologic distress was analyzed by multiple logistic regression analysis with covariates., Results: The mean ER ratio was 0.83 (SD = 0.53) and ERI (ER ratio >1) prevalence was 26.3%. The mean K6 score was 7.1 (5.3), and psychologic distress (K6 score ≥5) prevalence was 62.4%. The increased psychologic distress was associated with a higher ER ratio, less support from supervisors and coworkers, and lower age and household income. ERI was significantly associated with psychologic distress, even after being adjusted for covariates., Conclusions: Dietitians experience high stress, as shown by their high ER ratio and K6 scores. Their ERI was greatly associated with psychologic distress., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Objectives: It is unclear how many workplace COVID-19 preventive measures were maintained during repeated outbreaks. The aim of this study was to investigate a longitudinal change of implementation of workplace preventive measures responding to COVID-19 in Japan., Methods: An online longitudinal study was conducted using a cohort of full-time employees in Japan, starting in March 2020 (T1), with follow-up surveys in May (T2), August (T3), and November (T4) 2020. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to compare the difference among the four surveys in the mean number of 23 predetermined items of the measures implemented., Results: The final sample comprised 800 employees. The mean number of the implemented measures increased from T1 to T2, but did not change from T2 to T3, then decreased from T3 to T4. The number of workplace preventive measures significantly increased from T1 to T2 for 21 items (P < .001), and significantly decreased from T3 to T4 for 14 items (P < .001 to P = .005)., Conclusions: While the preventive measures responding to COVID-19 in the workplace were well-implemented during the earlier phase of the outbreak, they seem to have been relaxed after a huge outbreak (T3 to T4: August to November 2020). Workplaces should be encouraged to continue the preventive measures over repeated outbreaks., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Objectives: This study aimed to compare the longitudinal change of the psychological distress of healthcare workers (HCWs) with non-HCWs during the repeated outbreaks of the COVID-19 in Japan., Methods: The data were retrieved from the Employee Cohort Study in the Covid-19 pandemic in Japan study. An online survey was conducted on March 2020 (T1), on May 2020 (T2), on August 2020 (T3), and on November 2020 (T4). Psychological distress was measured by the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. A mixed-model repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted as an indicator of the group differences., Results: A total sample of analysis was n = 996 (HCWs, n = 111; non-HCWs, n = 885). HCWs consisted of physicians/nurses/midwives and other HCWs (eg, pharmacists, clinical laboratory technicians) in the clinical settings (n = 19; 17% and n = 61; 55%, respectively), and HCWs not working in the clinical settings (n = 31; 28%). Being HCWs were associated with a significant increase in psychological distress from T1 to T2, T3 and T4 (P = .001, P = .002, P < .001; respectively)., Conclusions: The mental health of HCWs deteriorated through the COVID-19 outbreaks compared with non-HCWs. HCWs are continuously the important targets to provide mental health support., (© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Objectives: The study investigated the links between workplace measures implemented in response to COVID-19 with mental health and work performance of employees in Japan., Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of a sample from a cohort study of full-time employees. Participants (n = 1448) completed an online self-report questionnaire on March 19-22, 2020. Multiple linear regression was conducted to ascertain their fear of and worry associated with COVID-19, psychological distress, and work performance., Results: The number of workplace measures correlated positively with respondents' fear of and worry associated with COVID-19 (adjusted standardized β = 0.123, P < .001), negatively with psychological distress and positively with work performance (adjusted standardized β = -0.068, P = .032; adjusted standardized β = 0.101, P = .002; respectively)., Conclusions: Workplace measures may promote and maintain the mental health and work performance of employees during the COVID-19 epidemic. The positive association between the number of measures and fear and worry about COVID-19 may reflect increased awareness about COVID-19 among employees resulted from taking the measures., (© 2020 The Authors. Journal of Occupational Health published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of The Japan Society for Occupational Health.)

Objectives: Although incivility is a common interpersonal mistreatment and associated with poor mental health, there are few studies about it in Asian countries. The aim of this study was to develop the Japanese version of the modified Work Incivility Scale (J-MWIS), investigate its reliability and validity, and reveal the prevalence of incivility among Japanese employees in comparison with data on Canadian employees., Methods: A total of 2,191 Japanese and 1,071 Canadian employees were surveyed, using either the J-MWIS or MWIS. Japanese employees additionally answered questions on civility, worksite social support, workplace bullying, psychological distress, intention to leave, and work engagement to investigate construct validity., Results: At least one form of workplace incivility was experienced by both Japanese (52.3%) and Canadian (86.0%) employees in the previous month. Internal consistency reliability of the J-MWIS was acceptable (α=0.71-0.81), and correlation analyses also confirmed its construct validity as expected. Workplace incivility was associated with lower workgroup civility, lower supervisor and coworker support, higher workplace bullying, higher psychological distress, higher intention to leave, and lower work engagement. Confirmatory factor analyses showed that the original three-factor model (supervisor incivility, coworker incivility, and instigated incivility) fitted moderately in both Japan and Canada data, though the privacy/overfamiliarity factor was additionally extracted from exploratory factor analysis for the J-MWIS., Conclusions: The results of this study suggested that the J-MWIS has moderate internal consistency reliability and good construct validity.

Objective: The purpose of this randomized, controlled trial was to examine the effects of a psychoeducational information website on improving work engagement among individual workers with low work engagement, where work engagement was measured as a secondary outcome., Methods: Participants were recruited from registered members of a web survey site in Japan. Participants who fulfilled the eligibility criteria were randomly allocated to intervention or control groups. Immediately after the baseline survey, the intervention group was invited to study a psychoeducational website called the "UTSMed," which provided general mental health literacy and cognitive behavioral skills. Work engagement was assessed by using the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale at baseline, 1-, and 4-month follow-ups for both intervention and control groups. An exploratory analysis was conducted for a subgroup with low (lower than the median scores) work engagement scores at baseline., Results: A total of 1,236 workers completed the baseline survey. In the low work engagement subgroup, a total of 313 and 300 participants were allocated to an intervention and control group, respectively. In the high work engagement subgroup, 305 and 318 participants were allocated to an intervention and control group, respectively. The program showed a significant effect on work engagement (t = 1.98, P = 0.048) at the 4-month follow-up in the low work engagement subgroup, with a small effect size (d = 0.17)., Conclusion: A web-based psychoeducation resource of mental health literacy and cognitive behavioral skills may be effective for improving work engagement among individual workers with low work engagement.

Objectives: The effect of anthropometric factors on the fingertip vibrotactile perception threshold (VPT) of industrial vibrating tool operators (IVTOs) is not well known. The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations between anthropometric factors and fingertip VPT., Methods: We included for analysis two groups of IVTOs: Group 1, predominantly forestry workers (n=325); and Group 2, public servants (n=68). These IVTOs regularly received medical examinations to evaluate hand-arm vibration syndrome. In the examination, measurements of their fingertip VPTs were taken before and after cold-water immersion (10 minutes at 10°C for Group 1 and 5 minutes at 12°C for Group 2). Their body height and weight were measured to calculate the body mass index (BMI). The presence of peripheral neuropathy (PN) was defined as a VPT ≥17.5 dB at 10 minutes after finishing immersion., Results: In the univariate analysis, weight and BMI were associated with a decreased risk of PN in both Groups 1 and 2. The negative association between BMI and PN remained in the multivariate analysis consistently, but weight reached marginal significance only in the multivariate analysis without BMI in both the groups. Age was positively associated with PN consistently in Group 1 but not in Group 2. Years exposed to vibration showed positive association with PN only in the univariate analysis of Group 1., Conclusions: Among IVTOs, factors reflecting body heat production, such as weight and BMI, were associated with a decreased risk of VPT-defined PN, regardless of the task engaged.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the association of one-year change in organizational justice (i.e., procedural justice and interactional justice) with job performance in Japanese employees., Methods: This study surveyed 425 men and 683 women from a manufacturing company in Japan. Self-administered questionnaires, including the Organizational Justice Questionnaire (OJQ), the World Health Organization Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (WHO-HPQ) and the scales on demographic characteristics, were administered at baseline (August 2009). At one-year follow-up (August 2010), the OJQ and WHO-HPQ were used again to assess organizational justice and job performance. The change in organizational justice was measured by dichotomizing each OJQ subscale score by median at baseline and follow-up, and the participants were classified into four groups (i.e., stable low, adverse change, favorable change and stable high). Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was employed., Results: After adjusting for demographic and occupational characteristics and job performance at baseline, the groups classified based on the change in procedural justice differed significantly in job performance at follow-up (ANCOVA: F [3, 1097]=4.35, p<0.01). Multiple comparisons revealed that the stable high procedural justice group had significantly higher job performance at follow-up compared with the stable low procedural justice group. The groups classified based on change in interactional justice did not differ significantly in job performance at follow-up (p>0.05)., Conclusions: The present findings suggest that keeping the level of procedural justice high predicts higher levels of job performance, whereas the psychosocial factor of interactional justice is not so important for predicting job performance.

Objectives: Several previous studies showed that the lack of organizational justice was associated with poor mental health. However, no study examined the effect modification by internal factor, such as coping strategies, on the association of organizational justice with mental health. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect modification by coping strategies on the association of organizational justice with psychological distress., Methods: A total of 471 men and 764 women from a manufacturing company in Japan completed self-administered questionnaires, including the Organizational Justice Questionnaire, K6 scale (i.e., psychological distress scale), Brief Scales for Coping Profile, and demographic characteristics. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted for each coping strategy., Results: After adjusting for demographic characteristics, the association of the lack of procedural justice with psychological distress was greater among the low changing a point of view group than among their counterparts. Furthermore, the interaction term of procedural justice with changing a point of view was significant. The association of the lack of procedural justice and interactional justice with psychological distress was also greater among the high emotional expression involving others group than among their counterparts, while the interaction terms of procedural justice and interactional justice with emotional expression involving others were marginally significant., Conclusions: Positive emotion-focused coping strategies, such as changing a point of view, may effectively prevent psychological distress when there is a lack of organizational justice, while problem-focused coping strategies may have no effects, and negative emotion-focused coping strategies, such as emotional expression involving others, may have harmful effects on the association.

Objectives: Several European studies showed that low organizational justice (i.e., procedural justice and interactional justice) was associated with major depressive disorders. In these studies, however, the diagnosis of major depressive disorders may be underestimated because they identified only individuals who visited a doctor and received a diagnosis. Moreover, these studies did not consider neurotic personality traits, which can affect the occurrence of major depressive disorders. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the cross-sectional association of organizational justice with major depressive episodes in the past 12 months more precisely in Japanese employees., Methods: A total of 425 males and 708 females from five branches of a manufacturing company in Japan completed self-administered questionnaires measuring organizational justice, other job stressors (i.e., job strain, social support at work, and effort-reward imbalance), neuroticism, and demographic characteristics. A web-based self-administered version of the computerized Composite International Diagnostic Interview Version 3.0 (CIDI 3.0) was used to assess major depressive episodes. Logistic regression analyses were conducted., Results: In the univariate analysis, low procedural justice and low interactional justice were significantly associated with major depressive episodes in the past 12 months. After adjusting for other job stressors and demographic characteristics, only the association of interactional justice remained significant. The moderating effect of neuroticism on the association of organizational justice with major depressive episodes in the past 12 months was not significant., Conclusions: Low interactional justice may be associated with major depressive disorders regardless or other job stressors or neurotic personality traits.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Inventory of Violence and Psychological Harassment (IVAPT) (Pando, 2006), a 22-item measure of psychological harassment at work and presence and intensity of psychological violence widely used in Latin American countries., Methods: The IVAPT was translated into Japanese, and the translation was amended through a small pretest and a back-translation and finalized. A total of 1,810 out of 4,072 civil servants completed a questionnaire including the IVAPT., Results: Cronbach's alpha of the scale was 0.97 for psychological violence and 0.94 for psychological harassment at work. An exploratory factor analysis showed that the first factor explained 64.5% of the total variance. Data did not well fit to previously reported one- or three-factor structures. Psychological violence and harassment at work were more frequent among older respondents. Intensity of psychological violence was well concordant with other scales of workplace bullying, i.e., Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terrorization (LIPT) and Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R), and psychological harassment at work was well concordant with the NAQ-R., Conclusions: The Japanese version of the IVAPT showed high internal consistency reliability. While the first factor explained a large proportion of the variance, the IVAPT seems to have a unique factor structure in the Japanese sample. Concurrent validity of the IVAPT was supported by the comparison with the other scales.

Objectives: Workplace bullying is increasingly being recognized as a serious problem within the work environment. Previous studies in European countries have reported the prevalence of workplace bullying and its association with poor mental health, using the Negative Acts Questionnaire-Revised (NAQ-R: Einarsen & Hoel, 2001), but there have been very few studies in Japan. The authors translated the 22-item NAQ-R into the Japanese language and examined the internal consistency reliability and concurrent and construct validity, including factor-based validity, of this scale in a sample of Japanese civil servants., Methods: A total of 830 males and 796 females were surveyed, using anonymous questionnaires including the NAQ-R, Leymann Inventory of Psychological Terror (LIPT), and scales for interpersonal relations at work and psychological distress (response rate, 46.7%)., Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the internal consistency reliability of the NAQ-R were high (0.91-0.95) for males and females. Workplace bullying measured by the NAQ-R was strongly associated with that measured by the LIPT and other scales on workplace bullying. The NAQ-R was associated with high psychological distress, high intragroup and intergroup conflict, low supervisor and coworker support, and low interactional justice, as expected. Although three factors were extracted, this findings differed slightly from the factor structure previously reported (Einarsen et al., 2009). However, Factor 1 explained most of the variance, indicating that a one factor structure fitted the data better., Conclusion: The present study showed acceptable levels of reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the NAQ-R among Japanese civil servants.