The purpose of this research is to clarify factors reducing the occupational stress of human service providers. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire survey using Job Stress Questionnaire was conducted. Subjects were 213 visiting nurses and 194 visiting caregivers in home-visit nursing stations and home-visit care facilities. The analysis revealed that both visiting nurses and visiting caregivers were good at controlling stress, the sustained positive attitude of working was associated with the control of stress, and factors relating to stress control differed by occupation. There have been few studies focusing on the good handling of stress control although there were several studies that examined their high stress level. This study regarded both visiting nurses and visiting caregivers as groups who were good at controlling their own stress and revealed factors affecting it, suggesting that it was significant not only for its demonstration of mind-body correlation but also for its findings of new aspects of both visiting nurses and visiting caregivers.

In this study, the effect of school mountaineering on self-efficacy of junior and senior high school students was examined. The questionnaire survey targeted students of two junior high schools and two senior high schools that conduct mountain climbing events in Nagano Prefecture；there were 531 students in the mountain climbing group and 73 students in the control group. Self-efficacy was measured before, after, and one month after conducting the mountain climbing event, among members of the mountaineering group, as well as among the members of the control group around the same time. Furthermore, after mountain climbing, a questionnaire based on Bandura's Four Sources of Efficacy Expectations, Hatano et al.'s Five Conditions of Efficacy Enhancement, and experiences of mountain climbing was conducted among students who were in the mountain climbing group. Results revealed that self-efficacy of students who participated in school mountaineering increased after mountain climbing and was sustained for a month thereafter. On the contrary, self-efficacy of students in the control group did not change. Self-efficacy was enhanced among students who had low self-efficacy before climbing than those who had higher self-efficacy before climbing. The factors that were related to changes in self-efficacy in school mountaineering included impression of nature in mountains, vicarious experiences (Bandura's Four Sources of Efficacy Expectations), and warm interactions with others (Hatano et al.'s Five Conditions of Efficacy Enhancement). Therefore, in school mountaineering, it appears that self-efficacy may be enhanced by being impressed of nature in mountains, seeing friends who are doing their best, and having warm interactions with friends.

This study aimed at investigating the correlation between the discoveries of dying alone and presence of mental disorders based on forensic autopsies over a period of 6 fiscal years using the number of days until discovery after death alone. Totally, 1122 autopsy cases of dying alone at the residences were studied. Patients with and without mental disorders who died alone were compared, with a discovery rate of up to 30 days after death. The discovery rate served as a relationship index for the society. Women were identified to have a higher tendency of discovery rate as compared with men. In addition, the discovery rate of men with mental disorders was greater than that of those without mental disorders. In contrast, the discovery rate of women suffering from mental disorders was lower than that of those not suffering. We also observed that the type of mental disorder influenced the discovery rate of such deaths pertaining to cases with mental disorders. We concluded that our findings demonstrate that gender, as well as presence and type of mental disorders might be risk factors pertaining to discovery of dying alone.