Women in Japan face difficulties balancing work and personal life due to the gender division of labor, and medical professions are no exception. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the gender division of labor affects the intention to leave the workplace among the nursing profession. Among 328 female nurses working for three university-affiliated hospitals in Tokyo, Japan, above 70% were in their 20s and 30s and single, and agreed with the gender division of labor that men should be the breadwinner and women should assume family responsibilities. Adjusting for three types of Copenhagen burnout inventory, stepwise multivariable logistic regression models identified that being younger (all p-values < 0.05), each domain of burnout score (each p < 0.001 for work-, personal-, and client-related burnout) increased a risk of intention to leave, and high support decreased the risk (all p < 0.001). Women who agreed with the gender division of labor were more likely to have intentions to leave (p = 0.003 but this association disappeared when adjusted. The findings of study demonstrate that perceptions toward gender division of labor are not a determinant of intention to leave the workplace but the young nurses and those who scored high on burnout were the most vulnerable population.

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Healthcare workers have a high risk of burnout. This study aimed to investigate if the numbers of physical symptoms are associated with burnout among healthcare workers. We conducted a cross-sectional survey at a large university in Tokyo, Japan, in 2016. Participants were 1080: 525 faculties and 555 hospital workers. We investigated 16 physical symptoms perceived more than once per week and examined the association between the number of physical symptoms and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI); work-related (WBO), personal (PBO), and client-related (CBO) burnout. All CBI scores were higher among hospital workers than among faculties: WBO (43 vs. 29), PBO (50 vs. 33), CBO (33 vs. 29). Moreover, the higher the number of physical symptoms perceived, the higher the degree of burnout scores became (trend p-values < 0.001), except for CBO among faculties. Job strain (all except for CBO among hospital workers) and work–family conflict were associated with an increased risk of burnout. Being married (WBO and CBO among faculties), having a child (except for PBO and CBO among faculties), and job support (faculty and hospital workers with WBO and faculties with PBO) were associated with a decreased risk of burnout. Multiple physical symptoms might be useful for identifying high risk individuals for burnout.

Objectives: To clarify the association between job stress and the number of physical symptoms among newly certified female nurses. Methods: In this cross-sectional self-administered survey, we investigated 313 female nurses working at three medical-university-affiliated hospitals in February 2016. We investigated working conditions including numbers of working and on-call hours, work-life balance, Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ) scores, and 16 physical symptoms perceived more often than once a week. Results: Among the 313 participants (mean age, 31.9), 57% were aged 21-29 years and 70% were single. Of the 16 physical symptoms investigated, fatigability was the most frequent complaint (66.1%), followed by lower back pain (44.7%). Univariate analysis showed that significant factors related to physical symptoms are job demands (p<0.001) and social support (p<0.001) in JCQ, binary index of supports (p<0.001), and total working hours per day (p =0.025). Multivariable-adjusted logistic regression analyses demonstrated that the likelihood of reporting a greater number (n≥3) of physical symptoms increased by 7% [95% confidence interval (CI), 2-13%] with a one-unit increase in job demand degree, and decreased by 16% (95% CI, 10-22%) in social support degree. When binary JCQ indexes were assessed, the high-support group [odds ratio (OR) 0.36; 95% CI, 0.23-0.59] was protectively associated with a greater number of physical symptoms while long working hours was significantly associated with a higher risk (OR 18%, 95% CI, 1-38%). Conclusions: Reporting a greater number of physical symptoms may be a good indicator of job stress perceived by a nurse in a university hospital setting.