Over-adaptation is a state of being biased toward external adaptation by focusing on work and workplace relationships rather than internal adaptation, like personal stability and mental health. Previously developed scales concerning over-adaptation were intended to measure over-adaptation tendency. Therefore, this study attempts to develop a scale for measuring a state of over-adaptation, which is out of balance with internal adaptation owing to overemphasizing of external adaptation. Participants of this study were 907 company employees and nurses. The over-adaptation state scale comprised four factors : avoidance of rejection from others, self-sacrificing work, workaholism, and perfect job performance. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for this scale were greater than 0.750, indicating sufficient internal consistency. Criterion-related validity was confirmed for each factor with moderate or less correlations with the Over-adaptation Tendency Scale for Adults. Since the number of items differed for each factor, this study developed a short version comprising three items for each factor and confirmed that it showed sufficiently high correlations with the original version.

A literature review was conducted to clarify the current status of employment support provided by psychiatric nurses and visiting psychiatric nurses for individuals with mental disabilities. The research used keywords such as “psychiatric nursing”, “employment support”, “employment transition support” ,“employment continuation support” ,“employment retention support”, “welfare workplace” and “employment assistance for the disabled”. The search covered documents published between September 2004 and March 2023 using the medical version of the Central Journal Web version 5, and, ultimately, 21 studies were selected. The result indicates that (1) psychiatric nurses and visiting psychiatric nurses play a role in collaborating with multiple professions in employment support for people with mental disabilities; however, their role may not be adequate in providing employment support, (2) nurses’ attitudes presented a challenge to employment support, and (3) while welfare employment is easy to provide, there is insufficient employment support for work requiring the signing of an employment contract.

　　Further research is necessary to clarify the thoughts of psychiatric nurses and visiting psychiatric nurses regarding employment and to build a support system. This will ensure that individuals with mental disabilities receive the necessary employment support.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted in August, 2018 to clarify how to support women’s health, especially women’s mental health in the restoration period after the Great East Japan Earthquake. The interviews with six women currently living in the area hit by the disaster included their experiences over the past seven years after the disaster. The qualitatively analyzed results produced the following eight categories : <a feeling of guilt and a sense of loss after the disaster>, <anger over enormous damage by the tsunami>, <anxiety about fading memories of the disaster and weakening awareness of disaster prevention with the passage of time>, <one’s living assured by the survival of one’s family, house and community>, <self-confidence about the application of the household knowledge and skills based on the local tradition to various cases in the disaster>, <desire of introducing the knowledge obtained from both the past experiences and the experiences of the Great East Japan Earthquake>, <thought of protecting one’s own family from disasters> and <a sense of accomplishment obtained through various activities developed from the experiences of the disaster>. From these categories the three core categories of : [negative feelings aroused when looking back on the disaster], [emotional support provided by connection with the community and performance of the caretaking role after the disaster] and [a sense of mission and a sense of accomplishment obtained through the disaster] were extracted. Various activities connecting with the society such as the caretaker’s work were found to activate the women’s life and encourage them. However, the survey results showed that their sense of loss experienced by the disaster has not yet healed. The results suggested that it was necessary to provide a means for helping the women to follow the grieving process and a supporting system that can give the women something to live for.

To prevention of exposures to hazardous drugs, an experiment was conducted to determine the presence and extent of drug leakage from an infusion bottle needle puncture site. The subjects were 18 fourth-year nursing students enrolled in a four-year nursing program at college. All the students have experiences in injecting a drug solution into an infusion bottle and puncturing a bottle needle in an intravenous infusion exercise that is part of basic nursing skills training. Of the 18 students, 4 (22.2%) attended lectures on the prevention of exposures to anticancer drugs. In the experiment, an infusion bottle (plastic vial, soft bag) containing 100 mL of normal saline solution (700 mg of nicotinic acid) with a simulated hazardous drug (700 mg of nicotinic acid) was placed on an infusion treatment table with the rubber stopper facing up, and using the infusion bottle puncture needle, the bottle was punctured “from top to bottom”. The amount of liquid leaking from the punctured site was measured when puncturing from “bottom to top” with the rubber stopper facing downward. The results showed that 2 of 18 (11.1%) subjects given the soft bags and 1 of 18 (5.6%) subjects given the plastic vials performed the puncture from “top to bottom,” while 15 (83.3%) subjects given the soft bags and 4 (22.2%) given the plastic vial performed the puncture from “bottom to top”. The leakage of the drug solution was observed. There was a relatively strong positive correlation (Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient : r＝0.640, p＝0.010) between leakage amount of the drug solution during the “bottom to top” puncture of the soft bags and the length of the dominant arm.

The purpose of this study was to clarify the process of thinking (nursing assessment) provided by home-visit nurses to home hospice residents. Home-visit nursing records were taken from 8 of 10 facilities in a corporation and assessed using text mining analysis. Records were excluded if they were less than 250 words and only objective data such as vital signs and the care provided. Of 921,500 records, 111 records were extracted. All analyses were conducted using KH Coder version 3. The records were placed into six categories: “management of defecation,” “management of medication,” “observation of condition during visit,” “supportive care,” “understanding of a deteriorating physical condition,” and “prospect of continued home care.” The categories suggest that home-visit nurses successfully manage symptoms and medication, observe the condition of home hospice residents, support existing health issues and, identify issues that may require home care in the future. In conclusion, it is necessary for home care nurses to observe and understand a resident’s condition to facilitate cooperation among health professionals.

A questionnaire survey was conducted on 600 elderly members of “senior clubs” or “senior salons,” which are resident-operated gathering places, to clarify signs of frailty, involvement in community living support activities, and satisfaction with their lives. The number of respondents was 515 (85.8% response rate), including 159 out of 200 senior club members and 356 out of 400 senior salon members. The frequency of participation was higher among senior salon members. All members were less likely to exercise or go out in their daily lives. Regarding diet, there was no difference in signs of frailty between the senior club members and senior salon members. In other abilities and activities, more senior salon members showed signs of frailty. As for the support provided, less than 50% of the whole subjects provided “safety checks” and “talking to others,” while “helping with evacuation at the time of a disaster” was common among senior club members and “providing meals” among senior salon members. On the other hand, “safety confirmation” and “someone to talk to” were relatively common among those who received the support, although the percentages were lower than those for the support provided. Life satisfaction was relatively high on a 10-point scale, 7.05 ± 1.72 points for men and 7.08 ± 1.98 points for women. Compared to those with signs of frailty, those without signs of frailty had a significantly higher level of life satisfaction.