A Japanese version of the stressors in nursing students (SINS) scale.

OBJECTIVES: To translate and study the factor structure of a Japanese version of the Stressors in Nursing Students scale. METHODS: The Stressors in Nursing Students scale was translated into Japanese and administered to a large cohort (N = 1298) of female Japanese nursing students across five universities and across all four years of the nursing programme. The data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis. RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis revealed four factors: 'Clinical'; 'Conflict and confidence'; 'Education'; and 'Free time'. The relationship between the total score on the Stressors in Nursing Students scale and the demographic aspects of the sample was weak but there was a significant increase in the perception of stressors between first and second year students. CONCLUSIONS: There were similarities and differences between the perception of stressors by nursing students in Japan compared with, for example, the United Kingdom and China mainland. While a four-factor structure was found here, the distribution of items in the Stressors in Nursing Students scale differed from previous studies in the United Kingdom and China with the 'Free time' factor being unique to this study. Stress is an issue for nursing students and is related to the specific stressors they encounter in the process of their work and study. Findings can inform the development of strategies to reduce such stressors among nursing students in multiple, global contexts.

Mastication effort estimated by electromyography for cooked rice of differing water content.

The objective of this study was to quantify the mastication effort for cooked rice. We analyzed mastication patterns while normal subjects ate a spoonful of cooked rice that had been prepared by cooking with different amounts of water (1.5, 2.0, 3.0, and 4.0 times the water to rice weight). The rice samples were served with the same weight, same volume and same solid content, and electromyography (EMG) of the masticatory muscles was measured. The texture of the four cooked rice samples was instrumentally analyzed by the two-bite method. The number of chews, masticatory time, and jaw-closing muscle activities per chew evaluated by EMG were higher in the rice sample cooked with least water, which exhibited a high firmness value in the instrumental test. Rice cooked with 4.0 times the amount of water exhibited the longest jaw-opening duration, which was related to the adhesiveness value in the instrumental test. The ratio of jaw-opening muscle activity to the preceding jaw-closing muscle activity was lower for the rice containing least water, this corresponding to the area ratio (balance degree) in the instrumental test. Softer rice containing more water reduced the total mastication effort until swallowing because it required a shorter mastication time. It was not difficult for the softer rice with high density to be ingested in greater weight, decreasing the mastication effort for a certain amount.