Support for Care to Improve Mental Health in the IT Workplace

Introduction
The objective of this study was to acquire insights about self care in order to develop concrete support systems to improve mental health among company workers.

Methods
From among 494 employees of an IT firm who attended a mental health workshop in December 2009, we analyzed the data obtained from 392 (81%) who subsequently agreed to participate in this study: 358 (91.3%) were males, 215 (54.8%) were in their 20s and 30s, mean duration of working was 13.0 years, 218 (55.6%) were employed under a flexitime system, and mean time working on personal computers was 7.4 hours per day during work time and 1.4 hours per day in personal time.
SPSS12.OJ was used for data analysis. Prior to commencing the study, we obtained approval from the Research Ethics Committee of the Association for Preventive Medicine of Japan. Questionnaires were anonymous.

Results
Factors associated with subjective health assessment: The findings demonstrated that greater levels of physical activity, quality sleep, and lower levels of stress were positive influences on subjective health assessment, and that higher numbers of health problems were negative influences on subjective health assessment.

Discussion
The findings demonstrated that those who were less conscious of stress, who were more satisfied with their sleep, who believed they had a sufficient level of physical activity, and who had fewer health problems were more likely to feel that they were in good health.

Note: This study was supported by a grant from The Mental Health Okamoto Memorial Foundation.