Factors associated with psychological distress of Public Health Nurse in Kagawa prefecture, Japan: A pilot study

We evaluated the psychological distress using a scale of the K6, the 6-item scale of psychological distress on public health nurse in Kagawa prefecture, Japan. We send the questionnaire to all public health nurses (n = 419) in Kagawa prefecture. Then, a total of 256 public health nurses (1 man and 255 women), had completely answered the questionnaires, were analyzed in a cross-sectional investigation study. The association between psychological distress and considerable factors were evaluated by using the K6, with psychological distress defined as 13 or more points out of a total of 24 points. A total of 15 public health nurses (5.9%) were defined as psychological distress. Clear relationships between the K6 score and age, experience duration as public health nurse were not noted. The K6 score in subjects with anxiety of preventing suicide was significantly higher than that without. In addition, the K6 score in subjects who feel their own mental status was excellent was also lower than that in subjects without that. In conclusion, some factors might be associated with psychological distress, as assessed by the K6, in public health nurse in Kagawa prefecture, Japan.