Effectiveness of the presence of occupational health nurses on encouraging workplace health promotion activities

Introduction
Occupational health nurses (OHNs) have been contributed towards workplace health promotion (WHP). However the effectiveness has not been clarified sufficiently. The purpose of this study is to elucidate the effectiveness of the presence of OHNs on encouraging WHP activities in companies.

Methods
Questionnaires were distributed to over 3,500 companies by mail. The question items included numbers of employees, numbers of health care staffs and whether various WHP activities were implemented or not (Yes/No). Implementation rates were compared by Chi-square test between the companies with and without OHNs. Multiple logistic regression analyses for the implementation of each activity were conducted using the following items as independent variables, i.e., numbers of employees, professions of respondents, presence of full-time occupational health nurses (Yes/No) and presence of full-time occupational health physicians.

Results
Among the responded 614 companies, most of WHP activities were significantly more implemented in companies supported by full-time or part-time OHNs. The multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that the presence of full-time OHNs and physicians were independently related to the implementation of several WHP activities, such as health guidance after health examination, interview to the workers with excessive overwork, and annual planning and evaluation for the company’s WHP. Activities, such as mental health education, mental health counseling, supports for rework, group education for the prevention of lifestyle-related diseases, healthy lunch projects, worksite visit, supports for smoking-cessation, regular meetings of company’s safety and health committee, were found to be independently related to the presence of OHNs, but not independently related to the presence of occupational health physicians.

Discussion
This study demonstrated that the presence of OHNs effectively encouraged company’s WHP in many activities. Especially in the countermeasures for mental health disorders and lifestyle-related diseases the full-time OHNs seemed to play more important roles than full-time occupational health physicians.