Relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time occupational physicians

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>We investigated relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese nese full-time occupational physicians (OPs).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>In 2000, we mailed self-administrated questionnaires to 716 OPs. Of these OPs, 349 (49%) returned sufficiently completed questionnaires for analyses. oblique-rotated principal factor analysis of the job stress questionnaire extracted three components; low understanding of occupational health services in companies (low understanding), conflicts between occupational physicians and their coworkers (conflicts), and discrepancies between occupational physicians' routine work and occupational health services (discrepancies).</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The model, in which low understanding contributed to self-rated health through job satisfaction and self-rated health was influenced by job satisfaction and discrepancies, provided a good fit to the data.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>We found that a potential relationship between job stress and self-rated health among Japanese full-time OPs. The present results implied that among full-time OPs, low understanding contributed negatively to self-rated health through job satisfaction, and that self-rated health was influenced positively by job satisfaction and negatively by discrepancies.</p>