Psychological impact of the state of emergency over COVID-19 for non-permanent workers: a Nationwide follow-up study in Japan

Pour une défense collective face à la fatigue pandémique: l'urgence de renforcer les facteurs protecteurs

Résumé:De nombreux articles publiés récemment ont laissé apparaître l'émergence d'un nouveau phénomène dans notre rapport avec la pandémie de COVID-19 : la fatigue pandémique. Ce phénomène suggère l'apparition d'une tendance générale de lassitude face aux mesures sanitaires et à l'état d'urgence devenu permanent. L'objectif de cet article est de replacer cet enjeu dans le contexte de la réalisation d'un projet de recherche portant sur les impacts psychosociaux durant la pandémie. Si relativement peu de recherches se sont intéressées à la fatigue pandémique, la réalité de ce phénomène a été mise en évidence dans le cadre d'un projet de recherche multi-annuelle effectuée durant la pandémie. En termes de méthode, notre équipe multidisciplinaire à l'Université de Sherbrooke a développé un protocole d'enquête permettant d'évaluer les effets de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur la santé mentale à travers des études transversales répétées. La dernière phase de l'enquête inclut un volet additionnel qui cherche à comprendre de quelle manière les conséquences de la pandémie peuvent s'appliquer à d'autres crises systémiques, notamment aux changements climatiques. Différentes vagues d'enquêtes nationales et internationales ont ainsi été réalisées (8 pays, taille minimale de l'échantillon 1000-1500 et échantillonnage par quota mis en oeuvre adapté à chaque pays et basé sur les données démographiques disponibles), et suivant l'évolution de la pandémie, nous avons introduit la notion de fatigue pandémique, ainsi que de fatigue climatique, afin de pouvoir mesurer l'impact de l'exposition prolongée à ces crises mondiales. Ces nouvelles données confirment nos résultats originaux : l'impact psychosocial de la pandémie est immense, en particulier en termes de fatigue pandémique, phénomène qui se retrouve à la fois au niveau comportemental et informationnel. Cette fatigue est un indicateur important à considérer afin d'améliorer notre capacité de réaction et d'adaptation à cette crise, mais également à celles futures.

The Japanese adaptation and validation of the COVID-19 Phobia Scale (C19P-S)

There exists a significant need of screening, measuring, and assessing phobic reactions to the negative effects and consequences of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) across the world. For this purpose, the C19P-S has b een developed and adapted to several languages and cultures including Turkish, Russian, Arabic, English, Korean, and soforth. This study aimed to adapt the scale into Japanese. Convenience sampling was used in the recruitment of the participants. The sample involved 310 Japanese-speaking natives from different prefectures of the country (MeanAGE = 49.97; SD = 13.07). The scale is a self-report instrument, which includes 20, 5-point Likert-type items. The scale assesses the levels of COVID-19 phobia in four areas: Psychological, Somatic, Economic, and Social. The validity (content, construct, convergent, and discriminant) and reliability (internal consistency) analyses were conducted. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used for group comparisons. MANOVA results show that women scored statistically higher in the psychological area. Furthermore, the participants with a lower educational level scored higher than those with a higher level in the somatic area. Among other scales measuring fear and anxiety, the C19P-S Japanese (C19P-SJ) is the first measurement tool specifically designed and adapted for evaluating coronaphobia. It is suggested that the individuals with psychiatric diagnoses be included to measure and support the construct validity of the scale.

A systematic review on the relationship between socioeconomic conditions and emotional disorder symptoms during Covid-19: unearthing the potential role of economic concerns and financial strain

BACKGROUND

Covid-19 has disrupted the lives of many and resulted in high prevalence rates of mental disorders. Despite a vast amount of research into the social determinants of mental health during Covid-19, little is known about whether the results are consistent with the social gradient in mental health. Here we report a systematic review of studies that investigated how socioeconomic condition (SEC)-a multifaceted construct that measures a person's socioeconomic standing in society, using indicators such as education and income, predicts emotional health (depression and anxiety) risk during the pandemic. Furthermore, we examined which classes of SEC indicators would best predict symptoms of emotional disorders.

METHODS

Following PRISMA guidelines, we conducted search over six databases, including Scopus, PubMed, etc., between November 4, 2021 and November 11, 2021 for studies that investigated how SEC indicators predict emotional health risks during Covid-19, after obtaining approval from PROSPERO (ID: CRD42021288508). Using Covidence as the platform, 362 articles (324 cross-sectional/repeated cross-sectional and 38 longitudinal) were included in this review according to the eligibility criteria. We categorized SEC indicators into 'actual versus perceived' and 'static versus fluid' classes to explore their differential effects on emotional health.

RESULTS

Out of the 1479 SEC indicators used in these 362 studies, our results showed that 43.68% of the SEC indicators showed 'expected' results (i.e., higher SEC predicting better emotional health outcomes); 51.86% reported non-significant results and 4.46% reported the reverse. Economic concerns (67.16% expected results) and financial strains (64.16%) emerged as the best predictors while education (26.85%) and living conditions (30.14%) were the worst.

CONCLUSIONS

This review summarizes how different SEC indicators influenced emotional health risks across 98 countries, with a total of 5,677,007 participants, ranging from high to low-income countries. Our findings showed that not all SEC indicators were strongly predictive of emotional health risks. In fact, over half of the SEC indicators studied showed a null effect. We found that perceived and fluid SEC indicators, particularly economic concerns and financial strain could best predict depressive and anxiety symptoms. These findings have implications for policymakers to further understand how different SEC classes affect mental health during a pandemic in order to tackle associated social issues effectively.

Anxiety and its risk factors among non-Japanese residents living in Japan undergoing COVID-19 situation: A cross-sectional survey

INTRODUCTION

In the context of collective efforts taken in Japan to control the spread of COVID-19, the state of emergency and social distancing have caused a negative impact on the mental health of all residents, including foreign communities in Japan. This study aimed to evaluate the level of anxiety and its associated factors among non-Japanese residents residing in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

A web-based survey in 13 languages was conducted among non-Japanese residents living in Japan during the COVID-19 situation. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory assessed the level of anxiety-State (STAI-S) scores prorated from its six-item version. The multivariable logistic regression using the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) method was performed to identify the associated factors of anxiety among participants.

RESULTS

From January to March 2021, we collected 392 responses. A total of 357 valid responses were analyzed. 54.6% of participants suffered from clinically significant anxiety (CSA). In multivariable logistic model analysis, the CSA status or the high level of anxiety was associated with three factors, including having troubles/difficulties in learning or working, decreased sleep duration, and decreased overall physical health (p<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Our study suggests several possible risk factors of anxiety among non-Japanese residents living in Japan undergoing the COVID-19 pandemic, including the troubles or difficulties in learning or working, the decrease in sleep duration, and the decrease in overall physical health.

Lessons on the COVID-19 pandemic: who are the most affected

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to significant changes in work and lifestyle, impacting occupational mental health. This study examines the time and individual heterogeneity in the pandemic's effects on occupational mental health using panel data from job stress checks spanning 2018 to 2021. On average, there was an initial alleviation of high-stress risk in 2020, followed by a deterioration in 2021. Based on the job demand-resource theory, we identify the group of employees most affected by the pandemic. The findings highlight that employees in unfavorable workplace conditions are more likely to experience substantial adverse impacts. Adequate workplace support, including factors like interpersonal relationships, managerial support, job meaning, control, and work-life balance, is crucial for mitigating high-stress risk. Additionally, during the early phase of the pandemic, engaged employees experienced a slight decline in occupational mental health, while those lacking job resources at their worksite faced higher levels of occupational stress in the subsequent year. These findings offer practical suggestions for person-centered coping strategies to mitigate the pandemic's adverse impact.

Evaluation on the psychological adjustment and countermeasures of civil servants in public emergencies

Public health emergencies are inevitable major development crises, and there are almost no omens of any emergency. The current social development would inevitably affect the psychological situation of civil servants. Grass roots civil servants have a wider range of tasks, more difficult working conditions and a more difficult environment. Under the strong social pressure, civil servants would also have negative factors such as fear and negative attitude. The mental health of grass-roots civil servants depends not only on the image and efficiency of the government, but also on creating a harmonious atmosphere and the quality of economic development. Therefore, people must pay attention to the psychological health of civil servants. It is mainly through psychological intervention and psychological adjustment to improve mental health. By analyzing the psychological characteristics of civil servants under emergencies and under pressure, and according to the importance of their coping ability under emergencies, this paper conducted corresponding psychological adjustment and psychological intervention to ensure the psychological health of civil servants, improve their ability to deal with public emergencies, and enable them to use correct and positive psychology to deal with public emergencies. It can be seen from the firefly algorithm that the prediction error value of the comprehensive quality of civil servants was declining, while the evaluation effect of the comprehensive quality was rising. The average value of the prediction error value of the comprehensive quality was about 0.49, and the average value of the evaluation effect of the comprehensive quality was about 0.73. In the whole process, the prediction error value of comprehensive quality decreased by 0.37, and the evaluation effect of comprehensive quality increased by 0.33. The comprehensive psychological quality and psychological adjustment ability of civil servants after psychological intervention were better than those before psychological intervention. The comprehensive psychological quality of civil servants after psychological intervention was 8.56% higher than that before psychological intervention, and the psychological adjustment ability was 8.47% higher than that before psychological intervention.

A nationwide web-based survey of factors associated with depressive symptoms among Japanese workers

BACKGROUND

Precarious employment has affected mental health, and limited data are available on the association of low stress tolerance with depressive symptoms among Japanese workers.

AIMS

This study aimed to examine the relationship between stress tolerance and depressive symptoms among Japanese workers, including company employees, civil servants and self-employed persons in various industries.

METHODS

We conducted a nationwide cross-sectional study. From March 26 to April 6, 2020, we performed a web-based survey of Japanese workers. The questionnaire included questions on socioeconomic factors, the SOC scale that assesses stress tolerance, the CES-D, and the EQ-5D-5L. Multivariate regression analyses were performed to determine the factors associated with depressive symptoms.

RESULTS

We included 3,001 participants in the analysis. A high SOC score, adequate sleeping time and frequency of exercise were associated with higher depressive symptoms. Employment status and long working hours were not associated with depressive symptoms. Younger workers had lower SOC scores than older workers. An inverse correlation between the SOC score and CES-D score was found among Japanese workers.

CONCLUSIONS

Improving stress tolerance among younger workers is needed to prevent worsening mental health regardless of employment status for Japanese workers.

Social support among persons with depressive disorders during COVID-19 pandemic

Context

The extent of depressive disorders is wide in the Indian population as reported by epidemiological studies, warranting a necessary area of intervention to cover the rampant treatment gap. Social support is known to vary as per the community-level changes, which may be attributed to events kickstarted by COVID-19.

Objectives

This study aimed to assess the social support among persons with depressive disorders.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 75 individuals of age ranging from 18 to 46 years from multi-ethnic communities across India. We used the Beck Depression Inventory-II and Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support.

Results

This sample had a mean age of 32 years (SD: 7.88 years), and recurrent depressive disorder was the larger prevalent psychopathology diagnosed during their routine clinical consultation in the hospital (69.3%). The majority of the respondents experienced moderate depression (n = 42), followed by mild depression (n = 14) and severe depression (n = 5). Social support and resilience were found to be mildly correlated with each other for persons with mild depression (r = 0.620; P = 0.018).

Conclusion

Persons with mild depressive features may benefit from low-cost and community-based interventions directed to enhance social support and thus impact resilience. Psychosocial interventions must address the impact of moderate depression and recurrent depressive disorder and include social support at all spousal, family, and societal levels.

Temporary employment and suicidal ideation in COVID-19 pandemic in Japan: A cross-sectional nationwide survey

Objectives

Association between employment contract (temporary vs. permanent) and suicidal ideation (persistent suicidal ideation [i.e., with onset before COVID‐19] or newly developed under COVID‐19 pandemic) was examined using a nationally representative cross‐sectional study in Japan.

Methods

An Internet survey was conducted from August to September 2020. The participants’ inclusion criteria for this study were as follows: (i) 20–65 years old, (ii) employees (excluding self‐employed, students, retired, housewives, and unemployed). The associations of suicidal ideation with the employees’ factors were analyzed using the multinomial logistic regression model, adjusting for covariates (sex, age, marital status, education, company size, industries, and a history of psychiatric disease).

Results

Of total 12 249 participants, 72.4% were permanent and 27.6% were temporary employees. The prevalence was 8.5% for persistent suicidal ideation and 3.2% for newly developed suicidal ideation in the COVID‐19 pandemic. Temporary employment was significantly associated with persistent suicidal ideation (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.36 [95% confidence interval, CI: 1.16–1.59]; P < .001), but not associated with newly developed suicidal ideation (aOR = 1.10 [0.85–1.42]; P = .457) after adjusting the covariates. Sensitivity analysis showed temporary employment was significantly associated with persistent suicidal ideation only in women. Newly developed suicidal ideation was significantly higher among participants of a young age, employees in drinking/eating/hotel business industry, and those having a history of psychiatric disease than among the counterparts.

Conclusions

Working on a temporary employment contract was associated with persistent suicidal ideation under conditions of COVID‐19 outbreaks in Japan. However, the result showed no significant difference in newly developed suicidal ideation. Further longitudinal study will be needed to examine the risk of being employed on an unstable occupational contract in the prolonged pandemic.