Objective: This study aimed to examine the association of social capital and social skills with mental health among medical science students.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study, distributing questionnaires to 648 medical science students, and analyzed 414 valid data by using multiple regression analysis. The independent variables were basic attributes (school, sex, grade, living condition, parents' educational background), social capital (cognitive social capital and structural social capital), and social skills while the logarithmic form of mental health was the dependent variable.

Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that cognitive social capital at school (β=-0.13, P=0.02), meeting with friends/acquaintances "several times a week" (β=-0.15, P=0.045), and social skills (β=-0.24, P<0.01) were associated with better mental health. Group learning "several times a year" (β=0.20, P<0.01), "several times a month" (β=0.15, P=0.01), and "several times a week" (β=0.11, P=0.04) were associated with poor mental health.

Conclusion: High scores of cognitive social capital and social skills were associated with better mental health among medical science students. These association should be further examined.

Objective: We examined whether information and communication technology (ICT) skills influence the quality of life (QOL), irrespective of social network use, of male and female elderly people to develop useful insights for elderly support.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using an anonymous, self-administered questionnaire targeting 290 elderly students of ‘University for the Elderly' in Tokyo. Their QOL was evaluated using a revised version of the PGC Morale Scale, and their ICT skills were assessed by scoring their answers to 2 questions regarding the abilities to obtain information using the internet, and send/receive e-mails using PC, smartphone, or mobile phone. The number of friends, frequency of directly/indirectly communicating with family/relative and friends, and number of relationships of confidants were used as social network-related variables. Multiple regression analysis was performed for each sex, with a revised version of the PGC Morale Scale score as a dependent variable, ICT scores and social network scores as independent variables, and subjective health status, age, and educational background as moderator variables.

Results: A total of 270 (110 males and 160 females) were analyzed. Among males, a significant positive correlation was detected between ICT scores and QOL scores (p=0.01). Among females, no correlation was found between ICT and QOL scores, but a significant positive correlation was found between ICT and the number of relationships of confidants as a social network-related variable (p<0.01).

Conclusion: As sex differences were found in the influence of ICT skills on the QOL, different strategies may be needed to support male and female elderly people.

Objective: Ensuring that smartphones are always on hand and connected can lead to disorder in daily life behaviors and health problems. In Japan, no definition of or addiction scale for smartphone addiction has been established. In this study, using the number of occasions of smartphone usage as an index, we examined the relationships between smartphone usage, health condition, and self-management ability in daily life behaviors.

Methods: We conducted this cross-sectional study among female university students using questions on 8 occasions of smartphone usage. We used Kruskal-Wallis test and Chi-squared and post-hoc residual analysis to examine the relationship between the number of occasions of use and self-evaluation of physical complaints, daily life behaviors, and eating behaviors.

Results: There were 1,260 valid responses (84.9%). The frequent-use group (over 6 occasions of use) used smartphones during multiple occasions such as meals, lessons, and part-time jobs. The frequent-use group had a significantly higher number of physical complaints (P<0.001) and did not eat breakfast (P=0.001) compared with the low-use group (0-2 occasions) and the moderate-use group (3-5 occasions); furthermore, the self-evaluation score of eating behaviors was significantly lower in the frequent-use group.

Conclusion: Using the number of occasions as an index for smartphone usage is useful in investigating its effect on daily life and health. This study suggests that frequent users of smartphones have higher risk of increasing breakfast skipping behavior and physical complaints.

Objective: This article described the practice and lessons learned from health education activities conducted in a project for improving the healthcare of female factory workers in Cambodia. It aimed to develop a comprehensive approach for cervical cancer management.

Contents: Responding to the urgent need of establishing a feasible cervical cancer screening program in Cambodia, the Cambodian Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SCGO) conducted a project jointly with the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine from 2015 to 2018. This project was initially started with a survey about the knowledge, attitudes, and practice regarding reproductive health and cervical cancer at a factory in a special economic zone. Following this, health education materials were developed and the SCGO health education team started a health education program for the factory workers. Health education was given to 2,450 women and a cervical cancer screening was conducted for 31 women. The health education activities were evaluated by reviewing the activity reports and related materials as well as by conducting interviews with 13 health education participants and 8 implementers.

Conclusion: The female factory workers recognized the health education program as a valuable opportunity to learn about their own health and basic hygiene, and factory managers also found it effective for the welfare of their workers. Besides, it also granted a professional value to the SCGO members.