Current and future perspectives of policies and strategies of mental health at work: a case for Japan

Aims  While the proportion of workplaces in Japan with any mental health care activities increased at 33.6% in 2007, there is still a concern of mental health among workers in Japan, such as an increasing number of workers on sick leave due to mental disorders and worker compensation claims due to mental disorders and suicide, as well as suicide rate remaining high. This paper aimed to provide an updated report on current policies and strategies for occupational mental health (OMH) in Japan.    New national policy under consideration  The Japan Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare plans to legislate the screening of workers with stress at workplace, waiting for the bill passing through parliament in 2011. However, there is still a controversial and it is not fully clear if the policy is effective.    Future perspectives of primary prevention  A government-funded research project has been working to explore a future perspective of primary prevention of stress at work. Repeated stakeholder meetings have confirmed that the primary prevention should aim at increasing positive mental health, as well as preventing health problems, at workplace. Thus a target of interventions should include management practices of managers (such as leadership, justice) and employee-employer relationship (such as vertical trust), as well as task-level work environment. According to a new model of the “kenko-Ikiiki” (healthy and vital) workplace, a questionnaire is being developed to monitor psychosocial work environment at workplace.    

Conclusion  After 10 years in which “karo-jisatsu” (suicide due to overwork) has been a driving force of OMH, the OMH service is shifted toward primary and secondary prevention in Japan. The new strategy for positive OMH seems supported by stakeholders and may be promising.