A Cross-Sectional Study of the Impact of Pain Severity on Absenteeism and Presenteeism Among Japanese Full-Time Workers

Abstract

Introduction: Pain is known to have a high impact on work performance, but there are several confounding factors, such as stress and mental issues. Little is known about the impact of pain severity on work performance when adjusted for such confounding factors. The aim of this study was to identify the effect of pain severity on absence from work (absenteeism) and reduced performance (presenteeism).

Dispositional Associations Between Interoceptive Attention Tendencies and Effortful Control: Cross‐sectional Findings from an Online National Survey of Japanese Working Adults

“…This indicates shared content overlap for dispositional aspects of attention control relating to (a) maintaining and controlling attention to bodily sensations, and (b) possessing the attitude of feeling that one's body is a safe place as a form of trust. The pattern of correlations for these specific factors is similar to studies of personality traits and the MAIA (Ferentzi et al, 2021;Walsh et al, 2019), as well as the regulation-based clustering of MAIA factors observed in a prior study with working adults in Japan (Tanaka et al, 2022). While more investigation is necessary, it seems that Trusting is also one of the facets with regulatory implications, perhaps due to the way that the body is perceived as a reference point for grounding, or some other body trusting-mediated process for regulation (e.g., returning to the sensations of one's own body as an appraisal of control via grounding).…”

“…Thus, the lack of or partial associations between Noticing and Body Listening with EC might also correspond to their more state‐like status as awareness‐based constructs, or a lack of the skill to listen to the body. Not Distracting distinguished self‐reported levels of pain among Japanese workers (Tanaka et al, 2022). In addition, Suga and colleagues observed differences in Noticing and Not Distracting in a group of mothers monitored over the course of a month using infant‐directed singing and social touch as a form interaction versus those without (Suga et al, 2022).…”

“…Applied researchers, especially, seek to elucidate interoceptive processes and bodily signal interpretations due to their implications for explaining and modulating habitual patterns of judgment toward feeling states (Domschke et al, 2010; Hölzel et al, 2011; Khalsa & Lapidus, 2016; Krautwurst et al, 2014; Schmitt & Schoen, 2022). However, these interpretations might differ based on whether the facet of the interoceptive process under evaluation is state‐like or trait‐like (Ferentzi et al, 2021), and individual differences in interoceptive traits might confound relationships between psychological and behavioral consequences, such as work‐related stress (Tanaka et al, 2022). In addition, relations between separately developed body awareness constructs and interoceptive attention tendencies (IATs) have been conducted in Japan (Fujino, 2019), but further scrutiny with control‐related factors have yet to be empirically examined.…”

Decreased Interoceptive Awareness as a Risk Factor for Moderate to Severe Pain in Japanese Full-Time Workers: A Longitudinal Cohort Study

“…Together with these physical and psychological problems, the negative impact of chronic pain extends into the work performance of an individual [5,6]. We reported that pain severity itself is an independent risk factor for reduced performance (presenteeism) and absence from work (absenteeism) in a sample of Japanese full-time workers [7]. Investigations of chronic pain, especially in the working population, is an issue that requires urgent attention to sustain stable work productivity.…”

Factors affecting presenteeism in workers with nocturnal hemodialysis: A two‐center cross‐sectional study

“…To decrease presenteeism, multidisciplinary treatment, including exercise therapy, may be needed. Previous studies have reported the effects of presenteeism on the work environment [36], occupational stress [37], psycho-psychological symptoms [38], pain [39], and insomnia [40]. Furthermore, interventions for presenteeism have been reported to include digital health programs [41], mental health care [42], and sleep interventions [43].…”