Aim: The purpose of this study is to develop a behavioral assessment scale aimed at “striving to achieve work-life balance” for nurses.

Method: We created a draft of a striving for work-life balance behavior scale based on previous qualitative free descriptive surveys and a literature review, and determined the validity and reliability by administering a questionnaire survey to 380 nurses working in three hospitals.

Result: Because there were differences in the mean total scores of the draft striving for work-life balance behavior scale between male and female, as well as full-time nurses and part-time job nurses, we determined to analyze 222 female full-time nurse with valid respondents. Eleven items and two factors were extracted using a factor analysis that uses the maximum likelihood method with promax rotation. One factor was the ability to consult when seeking support and the other factor was the ability in exercising self-control. Further, we performed a confirmatory factor analysis to test the fitness of the hypothetical model. A significant positive correlation was observed between the striving for work-life balance behavior scale and work-life balance achievement scale, and a negative correlation between the striving for work-life balance behavior scale and a work-family conflict scale. The following confidence coefficients were derived: a Cronbach’s alpha of 0 .78, and an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.66 from a test-retest.

Conclusion: The striving for work-life balance behavior scale developed in this study was shown to have validity and reliability.

This study analyzes the results of a nationwide large-scale survey of hospital dieticians to explore factors affecting job satisfaction, including personal attributes, working conditions, occupational stress, support resources, and intention to continue working. Qualitative stress, a product of demands for advanced knowledge and skills, was found to increase job satisfaction, leading individuals to perceive their work as a good ‘fit’ and meaningful. On the other hand, physical stress decreased job satisfaction by heightening feelings of fatigue and depression. Three factors noted to improve job satisfaction-opportunities to improve one’s skills in a goal-oriented setting, proper recognition of one’s efforts, and good interpersonal relations in the workplace-also strongly influenced intention to continue working.

Finally, job satisfaction was greatly influenced by differences in working conditions and responsibilities across different employers and qualifications: this trend appears unique to hospital dietitians.

<Objective> To examine the status of violence (physical, verbal, sexual) toward nurses by patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital within one month of the survey and to discuss the characteristics of such violence.

<Method> A total of 336 nurses were recruited from a public psychiatric hospital to participate in the survey, and 228 valid responses were obtained (response rate 67.9%). The survey obtained information regarding participants’ demographic characteristics (sex and age), years of experience as a nurse (including years as an associate nurse), years of experience in a psychiatric hospital, currently assigned department (psychiatric emergency care/acute ward, psychiatric treatment/chronic ward, child and adolescent ward, alcohol dependence treatment ward, medical observation ward, other), and whether they had received training as a Comprehensive Violence Prevention and as a Protection Program (CVPPP) trainer. Participants were also asked whether they had experienced physical violence, verbal violence, or sexual violence within the past month at the time of the survey.

<Results> The most commonly experienced form of violence was verbal violence (130 participants: 57.0%). Most participants reported experiencing repeated verbal violence (110 participants: 84.6%). Female nurses were more likely than male nurses to have experienced sexual violence (24 participants: 68.6%). Compared to the other wards, nurses in the medical observation ward reported significantly fewer experiences of any form of violence. This is thought to be because significantly more survey participants in the medical observation ward had received CVPPP training compared to those in other wards, and were thus able to consciously intervene to prevent patient violence.

The present study aimed to examine effects of psychological factors on typeIIdiabetic self-care. Participants were 976typeIIdiabetic patients. Using psychological factors were self-esteem, self-efficacy, self-control, and motivation to self-care. This survey was carried out by the internet survey system with a self-completed questionnaire method. As results of a covariance structure analysis, it had been revealed that self-esteem affected self-care not directly but via self-efficacy, that self-efficacy affected self-care directly as well as via self-control and motivation to self-care, and that self-control affected motivation to self-care. Theses result suggested that the core psychological factor to affect diabetic self-care is self-efficacy, which facilitates diabetic self-care directly and indirectly.