Journal of Occupational Health最新文献

{"title":"Stress experienced by dental students performing clinical training in different dental disciplines: a cross-sectional study.","authors":"Rasha A Alamoush, Sereen Al-Sawaeir, Dima Abu Baker, Sanaa A Aljamani, Salah A Alomoush, Mahmoud K Al-Omiri","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae006","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To assess the stress level, the impact of stress factors, and discrepancies between fourth- and fifth-year undergraduate clinical students at the University of Jordan.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A cross-sectional study was conducted in the academic year 2022/2023. The study group included fourth- and fifth-year dental students at the University of Jordan (n = 382) who were asked to voluntarily fill in an online dental environment stress (DES) questionnaire. Analysis was conducted using Mann-Whitney U test, independent t-test, χ2 test, and Spearman ρ rank correlations. Statistical significance was inferred when P < .05.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Fourth-year students reported higher levels of nervousness before treating patients for the first time. Fifth-year students faced more difficulty, higher stress, and/or fear regarding the amount of assigned work, provided treatment, completed requirements, failing the course, time to finish assignments, patient comprehensive care, and financial expenses of the course. Comparison between groups revealed that the fifth-year students scored higher levels of stress on the total DES score and all partial DES scores. Furthermore, the total DES questionnaire scores were significantly correlated with grade point average (GPA) among the total study sample and the prosthodontics clinical course marks among the fourth-year students' group.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The stress level among students in clinical courses was influenced by their academic performance, gender, year level, and the type and time needed for the provided treatment. Completing course requirements was among the most commonly faced stressors. Future research endeavors might be considered to study each clinical factor, its impact on students' stress level, and how to manage and positively improve these factors.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.0,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10899752/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139723039","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Is organizational intervention using Layered Voice Analysis effective in addressing operator mental health in call centers? A randomized controlled trial.","authors":"Naomichi Tani, Yoshihiro Takao, Sakihito Noro, Hiroaki Fujihara, Hisashi Eguchi, Kazuki Sakai, Takeshi Ebara","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae047","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae047","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To verify the effects of organizational interventions on mental health using Layered Voice Analysis (LVA).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A 12-week single-blind randomized controlled trial was conducted with call center operators. Sixty-six participants were randomly assigned to either a control group (n = 26), an LVA intervention group (n = 20), or a one-on-one intervention group (n = 20). The control group received general self-care information about preventing mental health problems from the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, Japan website. The organizational LVA intervention involved group sessions using participants' voice calls with customers, whereas the one-on-one intervention consisted of meetings or consultations with participants and their supervisors to discuss preventing mental health issues at work. To verify the effectiveness of the intervention program, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) was administered 4 times (baseline, 4, 8, and 12 weeks) as the primary outcome, and the data were analyzed using a linear mixed model. The intervention of LVA was subdivided and analyzed into LVA ≥5 times and LVA ≤4 times out of the total 6 interventions.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared with the control group, a significant CES-D reduction effect was observed at 8/12 weeks for the difference of coefficients (DOC; [βint - βctrl]) for the intervention of LVA ≥5 times (DOC -1.86 and -2.36, respectively). Similarly, even intervention LVA ≤4 times also showed a significant decrease of CES-D scores at 8/12 weeks (DOC -2.20 and -2.38, respectively).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>An organizational intervention using LVA has the potential to reduce the risk of depression among call center operators.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11460070/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141982573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Effects of 1-hour computer use on ulnar and median nerve conduction velocity and muscle activity in office workers.","authors":"Kanruethai Threesittidath, Supattra Chaibal, Haifah Nitayarak","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae023","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae023","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To compare the effects of 1-hour computer use on ulnar and median nerve conduction velocity and muscle activity in office workers with symptomatic neck pain and asymptomatic office workers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A total of 40 participants, both male and female office workers, with symptomatic neck pain (n = 20) and asymptomatic (n = 20), were recruited. Pain intensity, ulnar nerve conduction velocity, median nerve conduction velocity, and muscle activity were determined before and after 1 hour of computer use.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There was a significant increase in pain intensity in the neck area in both groups (P < .001). The symptomatic neck pain group revealed a significant decrease in the sensory nerve conduction velocity of the ulnar nerve (P = .008), whereas there was no difference in the median nerve conduction velocity (P > .05). Comparing before and after computer use, the symptomatic neck pain group had less activity of the semispinalis muscles and higher activity of the anterior scalene muscle than the asymptomatic group (P < .05). The trapezius and wrist extensor muscles showed no significant differences in either group (P > .05).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study found signs of neuromuscular deficit of the ulnar nerve, semispinalis muscle, and anterior scalene muscle after 1 hour of computer use among office workers with symptomatic neck pain, which may indicate the risk of neuromuscular impairment of the upper extremities. The recommendation of resting, and encouraging function and flexibility of the neuromuscular system after 1 hour of computer use should be considered.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11195575/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140863348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sampling targets to assess occupational health in occupational health and safety management system audits: a mixed-methods research in Japan.","authors":"Shunsuke Inoue, Shigeyuki Kajiki, Hayato Shimoda, Amane Fujita, Koji Mori","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae050","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae050","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Occupational health and safety management systems (OHSMS) are the foundation of occupational health and safety activities within an organization. An important element of these systems is audits. However, OHSMS auditors often lack confidence in conducting occupational health audits compared with their proficiency in conducting occupational safety audits. For occupational health to be effectively managed by OHSMS, the sampling competence of auditors engaged in third-party audits should be improved. Therefore, we conducted this study to identify appropriate sampling targets for occupational health related to International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 45001.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We adopted a mixed methods approach to identify appropriate sampling targets. This involved conducting focus group discussions with experts in occupational health and performing systematic text condensation analysis. The validity of our findings was further reinforced through confirmation by external auditors who specialize in ISO 45001.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the qualitative phase, 6 occupational health sampling targets were identified, and of these, 5 were subsequently validated in the quantitative phase: (1) Health issues, legal requirements, and occupational health goals identified by the organization; (2) Occupational health risk assessment and control processes; (3) Processes related to occupational health and documented information showing the results of efforts; (4) Organizational roles and functions of occupational health professionals and opportunities for their professional development; and (5) Processes to ensure commitment to occupational health issues and objectives.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>To ensure effective and comprehensive occupational health audits, auditors should review these targets. This study will enhance the competence of auditors by identifying appropriate occupational health sampling targets.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11451271/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142080670","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Short-term economic evaluation of physical activity-based corporate health programs: a systematic review.","authors":"Lorenzo Bonatesta, Stefano Palermi, Felice Sirico, Mario Mancinelli, Pierpaolo Torelli, Ettore Russo, Giada Annarumma, Marco Vecchiato, Frederik Fernando, Giampietro Gregori, Josef Niebauer, Alessandro Biffi","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae002","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae002","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>Corporate health programs (CHPs) aim to improve employees' health through health promotion strategies at the workplace. Physical activity (PA) plays a crucial role in primary prevention, leading many companies to implement PA-based CHPs. However, there is limited examination in the scientific literature on whether PA-based CHPs (PA-CHPs) lead to economic benefits. This systematic review aimed to summarize the available literature on the economic aspects of PA-CHPs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A systematic review was conducted to identify studies focused on PA-CHPs targeting healthy sedentary workers and reporting at least one economic outcome, such as return on investment (ROI), costs, or sick leave.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of 1036 studies identified by our search strategy, 11 studies involving 60 020 participants met the inclusion criteria. The mean (±SD) cost per capita for PA-CHPs was estimated as 359€ (±238€) (95% CI, 357-361€). In 75% of the studies, the net savings generated by PA-CHPs in 12 months were reported, with an average of 1095€ (±865€) (95% CI, 496-1690€). ROI was assessed in 50% of the included studies, with an average of 3.6 (±1.41) (95% CI, 2.19-5.01).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>In addition to promoting a healthy lifestyle, PA-CHPs have the potential to generate significant economic returns. However, the heterogeneity among the existing studies highlights the need for standardization and accurate reporting of costs in future research.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10939391/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139106258","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The relationship between air lead and blood lead in a modern US lead-acid battery facility: a longitudinal study.","authors":"Wenchao Li, Jiayang Chien, Joel M Cohen","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae073","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae073","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To date there has been little observational evidence on the relationship between air lead and blood lead at relatively low workplace air lead concentrations. This study sought to improve upon prior studies methodologically and aimed to examine this relationship in a modern workplace environment.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Personal measurements of air lead and blood lead concentrations were collected in a modern lead-acid battery manufacturing facility in the United States. A total of 236 workers and their 2221 air-blood lead measurement pairs, collected between 2001 and 2021, were included in the statistical analysis. The association between air lead and blood lead was examined using linear mixed-effects models to account for data correlation. Potential confounders adjusted for included age, sex, job department, time trend, tenure, and seasonality.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The workers were mostly (83%) male and on average 29.75 years of age at the first included measurement. Their air lead concentrations ranged from 1 to 50 (arithmetic mean 16.85) μg/m3; blood lead concentrations ranged from 2 to 35 (arithmetic mean 15.47) μg/dL. After adjusting for potential confounders, a 1 μg/m3 increment in air lead was associated with a 0.025 (95% CI, 0.005-0.045; marginal, semi-partial ${R}^2$ = 0.002) μg/dL higher blood lead.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The relationship between air lead and blood lead at relatively low workplace air lead concentrations over a long employment period may be very weak, but this needs to be further investigated in future observational studies with quantified lead exposures from noninhalation routes and nonoccupational sources.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11742368/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142828430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comment on \"Occupational health staff's involvement contributes to supervisor's perceived organizational support in Japanese workforce: a prospective cohort study\".","authors":"I Wayan Gede Suarjana","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae066","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae066","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11635819/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142546047","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A systematic review of work-related health problems of factory workers in the textile and fashion industry.","authors":"Raphael Kanyire Seidu, Emmanuel Abankwah Ofori, Benjamin Eghan, George Kwame Fobiri, Alex Osei Afriyie, Richard Acquaye","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae007","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae007","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The purpose of this study was to present a systematic review of the health-related problems of factory workers in the textile and fashion industry. These workers endure long sitting postures, poor workspace conditions, and long working hours to complete their overload of tasks. This situation results in several health problems that affect the productivity, mental health, and well-being of the workers.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The relevant data (21 article publications) were obtained from the Scopus database. Analysis of the 21 articles was grouped under 3 research themes based on the critical reading of the content and abstracts: respiratory problems, musculoskeletal disorders, and psychological stressors and other health issues.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The findings show that factory workers are exposed to dust particles of cotton and other raw materials, fumes, and chemicals from manufacturing processes. This prolonged exposure without the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) leads to respiratory diseases like byssinosis that affect the workers' health. Additionally, working in a particular posture due to the workstation design for prolonged hours causes musculoskeletal disorders or pains. Workers also suffer from anxiety, depression, and stress from workload and pressure, hence making them unstable with reduced productivity.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The findings of the study reinforce the need for a safe workspace and spacious work environment, provision of PPE, training in occupational hazards, frequent health checks, and ergonomic assessment of workstations to reduce prolonged work postures. Stakeholders, employers, policymakers, and governments should collaborate to safeguard and protect the well-being and health of the workers at these factories.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10964409/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139642340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global, regional, and national burden of cancers attributable to occupational risks from 1990 to 2019.","authors":"Shiliang Ling, Lihong Zhou, Yanfeng Wu, Xiaoling Zhang, Wulong Han, Lihua Cui, Zhiyu Luan","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae040","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae040","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Based on data from the Global Burden of Disease study, the burden of cancer attributable to occupational risks between 1990 and 2019 was explored.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>The estimated burden in different regions was compared in terms of the age-standardized death rates (ASDRs), age-standardized disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) rates, and corresponding estimated annual percentage changes (EAPCs). The comparative risk assessment framework was used to estimate the risk of death and DALYs attributable to occupational risk factors.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Globally from 1990 to 2019, ASDRs decreased (EAPC = -0.69; 95% CI: -0.76 to -0.61), and age-standardized DALY rates decreased (EAPC = -0.99; 95% CI: -1.05 to -0.94). In terms of the global age distribution of cancer attributable to occupational risk factors, the death rate and DALY rates increased with age. In addition, from 1990 to 2019, the number of deaths, DALYs, ASDRs, and age-standardized DALY rates in men were higher than those in women, and the cancer burden grew fastest in Georgia (EAPC = 5.04), Croatia (EAPC = 4.01), and Honduras (EAPC = 3.54). Moreover, as the sociodemographic index (SDI) value of a country or region increased, its burden of cancer attributable to occupational risk factors rapidly increased.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The global cancer burden attributable to occupational risk factors declined from 1990 to 2019, was higher in men than in women, and was concentrated in middle-aged and older adults. The baseline cancer burdens of regions or countries increased as their SDI values increased and were especially high in high-SDI regions or countries.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11378634/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141752011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Comparison of BMI changes in Japanese adults receiving face-to-face versus online counseling for specific health guidance: a noninferiority prospective observational study.","authors":"Satoru Kanamori, Kiyomi Tomiyama, Yasuo Haruyama","doi":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae026","DOIUrl":"10.1093/joccuh/uiae026","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>This study aimed to evaluate the noninferiority of online counseling over face-to-face counseling for specific health guidance (SHG).</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This prospective observational study was conducted using specific health checkup (SHC) and SHG data of individuals with health insurance in Japan. We analyzed data from 1431 participants who met the inclusion criteria, including those who underwent online or face-to-face counseling between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021, and received an SHC in the following year but no earlier than 90 days after their first counseling session. Assessed variables comprised demographics, counseling methods, and SHC results, including baseline questionnaire findings and body mass index (BMI) at follow-up. We performed inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) using propensity scores, with changes in BMI as the objective variable and the counseling method as the explanatory variable. We set the noninferiority margin to 0.175, based on a previous study.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The online and face-to-face counseling groups comprised 455 (31.8%) and 976 (68.2%) participants, respectively. The number of men and mean age were 214 (47.0%) and 49.9 years (SD: 6.9 years), respectively, in the online counseling group, and 491 (50.3%) and 51.1 years (SD: 7.6 years), respectively, in the face-to-face counseling group. IPTW using propensity scores revealed a regression coefficient of -0.014 (95% CI: -0.157 to 0.129) for the online group compared with the face-to-face group (P = .847). The CI was within the noninferiority margin.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The effects of online counseling on BMI are likely noninferior to those of face-to-face counseling.</p>","PeriodicalId":16632,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Occupational Health","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11170213/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140903599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}