Relationships between Occupational Stress, Change in Work Environment during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms among Non-Healthcare Workers in Japan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This study aims to clarify the effect of occupational stress and changes in the work environment on non-healthcare workers’ (HCWs) mental health during the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted from 16 to 17 December 2020. Data from 807 non-HCWs were included. We evaluated occupational stress using the Generic Job Stress Questionnaire (GJSQ). Depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Japanese version of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, respectively. We collected demographic variables, work-related variables, and the variables associated with COVID-19. The adjusted odds ratios for depressive and anxiety groups were estimated using multivariate logistic regression analyses, adjusted for all the demographic variables, work-related variables, COVID-19-related variables, and the six subdivided GJSQ subscales. The results confirm a relationship between variance in workload, job future ambiguity, social support from coworkers, having contact with COVID-19 patients, and depressive and anxiety symptoms. Paying attention to job future ambiguity, the variance in workload at the workplace and individual perspectives, promoting contact and support among coworkers using online communication tools, and reducing contact with COVID-19 patients, will be useful for decreasing the depressive and anxiety symptoms among non-HCWs.

Symptoms and risk factors of depression and PTSD in the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal survey conducted from 2020 to 2022 in Japan

“…Levels of depression have increased due to the pandemic and subsequently decreased slightly in 2022. Because, the present study showed that levels of depressive symptoms in January 2022 were lower than in 2020 and 2021, and these scores in January 2022 were nearly the same as scores obtained before the pandemic [29,30] rather than during the pandemic [14]. The same result was found for the number of suicides in Japan [13].…”

“…In Japan, mild lockdowns have been implemented intermittently, because the pandemic has exhibited a repeated pattern of expansion and a contraction. The rate of suicides in Japan increased from July 2020 to June 2021 [13], and previous research has reported that mental health among Japanese people decreased during the early stages of the pandemic [14,15] and at the beginning of 2021 [16].…”

Prevalence and factors associated with self-reported anxiety in adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Spain: A cross-sectional Ibero-American study

“…One study suggests that the shift to remote work at home due to the covid-19 pandemic generated a greater influence on mental health, mainly due to increased workload and overtime [ 37 ]. Another study demonstrated relationships between drastic changes in work style, workplace, economic deterioration, feelings of job insecurity with anxiety symptoms [ 38 ]. In line with the WHO survey (2017), in which younger individuals had a higher prevalence of anxiety disorder, with a decline after 49 years old [ 5 ].…”

Symptoms and risk factors of depression and PTSD in the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal survey conducted from 2020 to 2022 in Japan

“…In Japan, strict lockdowns have never been implemented, but mild lockdowns have been implemented intermittently because the pandemic has exhibited a repeated pattern of expansion and contraction. Previous research conducted in 2020 and 2021 reported that the prevalences of depressive symptoms in Japan were 18.35% and 43.4%, respectively, and the rate might have increased before the pandemic [ 23 – 25 ]. Additionally, the rate of suicide in 2020 increased by 4.5% compared to that in 2019 [ 26 ].…”