title: Effects of work burden, job strain and support on depressive symptoms and burnout among Japanese physicians.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Days off, on call, night duty, working hours and job stress can affect physicians' mental health, and support from supervisors and co-workers may have a buffering effect. This study elucidates whether job strain and job factors affect physicians' mental health, and whether support from supervisors and co-workers has a protective effect on their mental health.
  
  
  METHODS
  The subjects included 494 physicians. The Brief Job Stress Questionnaire (BJSQ) was used to evaluate job demand, job control and support. High job strain was defined as a combination of high job demand and low job control. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9. The Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey was used to evaluate burnout. Possible confounder adjusted logistic regression analyses were performed to obtain odds ratios for depressive symptoms and burnout.
  
  
  RESULTS
  As per the analysis, high job strain had significantly higher odds ratios, and support from co-workers had significant protective odds ratios for depressive symptoms. High job strain and having only 2-4 days off per month (compared to > 8 days off per month) had significantly higher odds ratios, and support from co-workers had significant protective odds ratios for burnout.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High job strain was related to depressive symptoms and burnout, and support from co-workers had a buffering effect on depressive symptoms and burnout. An inadequate number of days off was related to burnout. Assessment of job strain may be a good tool to measure physicians' mental health, and a sufficient number of days off may be needed to prevent burnout.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Science, Asahikawa Medical University, Asahikawa, Japan, y-saijo@asahikawa-med.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Yasuaki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saijo
authors.forename: Shigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chiba
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Yoshioka
authors.forename: Yasuyuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kawanishi
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakagi
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Yoshihiko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sugioka
authors.forename: Kazuyo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kitaoka-Higashiguchi
authors.forename: Takahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshida
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002055:Burnout, Professional / Q000209:etiology*; D003863:Depression / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D013997:Time Factors; D014940:Work Schedule Tolerance / Q000523:psychology; D016526:Workload / Q000523:psychology*