Coping with stress in a cross cultural setting: the case of Japanese and American employees of a Japanese plant in the United States.

The purpose of this pilot study was to compare the psychosocial distress of Japanese auto workers with that of the American employees working in a Japanese managed plant, to describe mediating factors related to their distress, and recommend interventions. Japanese and American workers and spouses responded to five questionnaires and two open ended questions about changes in health, function, and time, and needs, problems, and recommendations for stress reduction. Japanese men had higher General Health Questionnaire scores than American workers. Psychosocial distress was related to work self confidence and individual responsibility for Japanese men, with social support for Japanese women, and with individual responsibility for American men and women. Stress was related to communication problems and misunderstanding about the management practices and cultural norms. Culturally appropriate worksite and community interventions are discussed.

Screening for psychosocial distress: implications for prevention and health promotion.

The importance of identifying the mental as well as physical health needs of individuals served in primary care settings has been documented in the United States, Great Britain, and developing countries. This study compared the prevalence of psychosocial distress across four demographically diverse ambulatory care clinics, and described the relationship among selected demographic characteristics (age, gender, marital status, race, education, and income) and psychosocial distress in order to develop a profile of high-risk clinics and patients. The sample was drawn from consecutive clinic attendees in two geographic regions of the United States. Psychosocial distress was measured with the Goldberg 28-item general health questionnaire (GHQ). As a group, 64% of the subjects had GHQ scores of less than 5, indicating they were not at risk; 26.5% were moderately distressed and 9.5% were highly distressed. The distressed tended to be chronically physically ill patients who attended two clinics. Multivariate nominal scale analysis (NMA) indicated that the sociodemographic variables accounted for 11% of the variance in GHQ scores. Younger (less than 60 yrs), white, low-socioeconomic subjects had a higher probability of falling into the high-risk category. Contrary to previous research findings, gender was not associated with distress.