Japanese Journal of Health and Human Ecology

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Objectives: Occupational health research on shift work has been conducted for night-shift work exclusively. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of morning- and evening-shift works, which have been common among Japanese female shift workers except nurses, on their sleep and dietary patterns, fatigue and gastrointestinal complaints, and psychological well-being. We alsoconsidered the inter-variable relationships. Methods: A 4-day questionnaire survey was conducted for 36 daytime workers and 67weekly-rotating two-shift workers. Of the 67 shift workers, 34 worked in the morning-shift and 33in the evening-shift during the survey week. Results: Early awakening time was observed in the morning-shift workers, and this was relatedto sleep disturbance. Further, late awakening time was observed in the evening-shift workers, and this was related to skipping breakfast. Worsened quality of sleep triggered the feeling of fatigue, while skipping breakfast led to gastrointestinal complaints. These health complaints wererelated to the GHQ-28 score, which reflected relatively long-term somatic and psychological illbeing. Conclusions: The effects of shift work differed between the morning-shift and evening-shift workers. Based on the cross-sectional data, this study disclosed the plausible relationships among the behavioral and health variables of female shift workers.

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We conducted a questionnaire survey targeting support for elderly people living in a community.We focused on elderly people living alone. The survey was conducted in 2000 in A-village of Okinawa prefecture. Of 911 people aged 65 years and over who received the questionnaire, 707(87.4%) responded. The survey items were self-related health levels, how often they left theirhouses, how often they had conversations with neighbors, the Philadelphia Geriatric Center (PGC)Moral Scale, activities of daily living (ADL) and the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology(TMIG) Index of Competence. Among the respondents, elderly people living alone had fewer children than other elderly people. On the PGC Moral Scale there was a statistically significant low score for males livingalone. They answered ?gI am afraid of a lot of things?h, ?gI often feel lonely?h and ?gI don't see enough of my friends, relatives and families?h more frequently than did other elderly people. There was also a statistically significant low score on Social Role, a subscale of the TMIG Index Competence, for males living alone. The findings suggest the need to improve the current system and to provide social supportfor elderly males living alone.

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