[Characteristics of mental health problems among Japanese young workers and their measures--a cross-sectional survey using an open-ended questionnaire].
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to investigate the characteristics of mental health problems faced by young workers and the effectiveness of measures implemented for improving their mental health.


METHODS
We sent anonymous open-ended questionnaires to 386 occupational physicians in Japan, and received questionnaire responses from 109 of them. The questionnaire was comprised of two parts. The first part addressed the age-specific characteristics of workers with mental health problems. The second part focused on the mental health measures implemented for young workers and opinions on their effectiveness. The responses were entered in a database. Frequently appearing words were identified and the number of times of the appearance was counted for each question. We conducted statistical analysis to examine the association between word frequency and age group in the first part. Ten investigators and collaborators of this study arranged the descriptions of the mental health measures for young workers and the opinions on their effectiveness in the second part.


RESULTS
For mentally ill subjects in their 20s, we identified a range of frequently occurring words using correspondence analysis. The frequently occurring words were: "personality", "immaturity", "extrapunitive", "developmental disorder", "schizophrenia," "new-type depression", "maladjustment", "entering a company", "society", "superior," and "co-worker", Work-related words, such as "qualitative workloads" and "quantitative workloads", were identified for those in their 30s, and greater numbers of words on life outside of the workplace, such as "home," "child" and "nursing care" were identified for those in their 40s. Among the responses about the types of measures implemented for young workers, education and interviews were most common, and most respondents indicated that the effectiveness of these measures was unknown. A few respondents indicated that coordination between young workers' families and the persons concerned in the workplace, such as their superiors, personnel management staff, and occupational physicians, was useful to encourage their family to provide support.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that mental health problems among young workers are multilaterally affected by personal factors, such as personal maladjustment to their work and, immature or extrapunitive character, mental disorder, or job stressors in the background and in their workplace organization. Strengthening the coordination among young workers' families and the persons concerned in the workplace may be an effective mental health measure for young workers.
Stanley Electric Co., Ltd. Hatano Factory, 400 Soya, Hadano-shi, Kanagawa 257-8555, Japan.
Kazunori
K
Ikegami
Masafumi
M
Eguchi
Yohei
Y
Osaki
Tomo
T
Nakao
Kengo
K
Nakamoto
Ayako
A
Hino
Hisanori
H
Hiro
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008603:Mental Health; D010559:Personnel Management; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017132:Workplace