Abstract Objectives This study examined the effectiveness of a newly developed work–family life support program on the work–family interface and mental health indicators among Japanese dual-earner couples with a preschool child(/ren) using a randomized controlled trial with a waitlist. Methods Participants who met the inclusion criteria were randomly allocated to the intervention or the control groups (n = 79 and n = 85, respectively). The program comprised two 3-h sessions with a 1-month interval between them and provided comprehensive skills by including self-management, couple management, and parenting management components. The program sessions were conducted on weekends in a community center room with 3–10 participants. Outcomes were assessed at baseline, 1-month, and 3-month follow-ups. Primary outcomes were work–family balance self-efficacy (WFBSE), four types of work–family spillovers (i.e., work-to-family conflict, family-to-work conflict, work-to-family facilitation, and family-to-work facilitation), psychological distress, and work engagement reported by the participants. Results The program had significantly pooled intervention effects on WFBSE (P = .031) and psychological distress (P = .014). The effect sizes (Cohen’s d) were small, with values of 0.22 at the 1-month follow-up and 0.24 at the 3-month follow-up for WFBSE, and −0.36 at the 3-month follow-up for psychological distress. However, the program had nonsignificant pooled effects on four types of work–family spillovers and work engagement. Conclusions The program effectively increased WFBSE and decreased psychological distress among Japanese dual-earner couples with a preschool child(/ren).
To investigate the effects of sleep hygiene education for workers of an information technology (IT) company, we conducted a controlled clinical trial providing 581 workers one-hour sleep hygiene education. The contents of the sleep hygiene education program were a review of sleep habits, provide sleep hygiene education, and the establishment of sleep habit goals. A self-report questionnaire was used to measure outcomes including the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), Checklist Individual Strength (CIS), Center for Epidemiologic Studies for Depression (CES-D), and mean sleep duration on weekdays before and 4 wk after the intervention. A total of 391 participants were included in the analysis, with 214 participants in the sleep hygiene education group and 177 in the waiting list group. KSS score at 2 P.M. decreased by 0.42 points in the sleep hygiene education group, but increased by 0.08 points in the waiting list group, showing a significant effect size of 0.50 (95%CI, -0.97 to -0.04, p<0.05). PSQI score also improved, but the inter-group difference was not statically significant. The present study provides preliminary evidence that brief sleep hygiene education may improve afternoon sleepiness at work, but not sleep at night for IT workers.
Organizational justice has recently attracted attention as a predictor of employee mental and physical health. However, the lack of a Japanese translation of the original English-language organizational justice scale (OJS) has precluded its application in Japan. The present study aimed to develop Japanese version of the measure of organizational justice. We translated the original questionnaire, which is comprised of 20 items, from English to Japanese. The OJS is made up of four distinct dimensions: procedural, distributive, interpersonal and information justice. A total of 229 employees responded to the Japanese version of the OJS (OJS-J), the effort-reward imbalance (ERI) model and the Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10). To assess construct validity, we recorded job satisfaction using the visual analog scale (VAS). Our exploratory factor analysis supported the four-factor structure model of OJS-J. Correlation coefficients between the OJS-J and ERI, K10 and VAS were statistically significant, indicating a reasonable degree of construct validity. Obtained internal consistency was markedly high (Cronbach's alpha was 0.96), and test-retest reliability as analyzed with an intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.91. These results suggest that the OJS-J is a reliable and valid measure that may be suitable for use as a predictor of employee health in the Japanese work place.
This paper provides an overview of the Japanese semiconductor industry. In the first part, a history of the industry from the very beginning is described. Some unique features of the industry, like consumer orientation, vertical integration, and scale efficiency, are examined. In the second part, the present status of the industry is examined with some emphasis on very large-scale integrated devices and technologies. Nonsilicon technologies are described compared with those of silicon. A wide variety of devices and technologies are now being studied and developed, however, from the industry's viewpoint, the main stream is and will continue to be with silicon. Among such devices, scaled CMOS and high-speed bipolar varieties are of special interest, due to their potential high performance as well as broad application.
Background: Happiness varies across the life course in a U shape, with the least happiness in mid-life during the working years. Therefore, choosing a career may be an important factor in life’s happiness. However, the relationship between the career selection process and happiness remains unclear. Methods: We surveyed 805 schoolteachers, office workers, and nurses from an available marketing database using an ad hoc questionnaire assessing happiness and career selection type. Results and Discussion: We found that happiness was significantly greater among schoolteachers and nurses than for office workers in Japan. Furthermore, among schoolteachers and office workers, an evasive/avoidance type of career-selection process had an unfavorable effect on happiness. However, among nurses, no such association was observed. Conclusion: Paying attention to the career-selection process may be helpful to improve happiness.
A symbolic layout system for double-metal silicon-gate MOS technology in the style of Gate Matrix is presented. This system provides an integrated layout environment which consists of stick-figure-based graphic editor, a mask artwork generator, a connectivity checker, a circuit parameter extracter and simulator interfaces. All the modules are designed to deal with symbol data, rather than mask artwork, so that fast execution is realized. A method to associate symbol data with actual mask geometry is described along with the data structure employed. Also described is network partitioning by signal names taking into account logical equivalence of transistor circuits.
A total of 146 married inhabitants (67 men and 79 women) in a provincial city of Japan were interviewed to examine marital adjustment and its psychosocial determinants. Fifteen items of the Short Marital Adjustment Test (Locke & Wallace, 1959) (LWT), a self-rating questionnaire, were transformed into a semi-structured interview together with two new items. Factor analysis yielded five factors which were interpreted as dyadic consensus, satisfaction, flexibility, home-loving, and interest-sharing. Better marital adjustment in women was correlated with higher standard of living, lower neuroticism, and a more caring father, whereas in men it was correlated with lower psychoticism and a more caring mother. Longitudinal studies are needed to throw more light on the determinants of marital adjustment.
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