Coping profile of workers greatly affects the process where job stressors develop health problems, but most of the previously proposed questionnaires for the coping profile are too long to be applied to the program of occupational mental health. In the present study, the authors report the process of developing a new self-rating questionnaire for assessing workers' coping profile which includes only 18 questions. Based on the results of a preparatory study, the 18 questions which provide 6 scales about coping strategies were proposed as the Brief Scales for Coping Profile (BSCP). A self-administered questionnaire including BSCP, Brief Scales for Job Stress (BSJS), and a depression scale (CES-D) was applied to 394 workers in a company, and 328 (83%) responded. Their age was 40.1 ± 10.0 yr (mean ± SD), 78% were men, 75% were married, and most of them were white collar workers. Six factors extracted through factor analysis of BSCP closely agreed with the expected 6 scales and also with the results of previous studies. They were named "active solution", "seeking help for solution", "changing a point of view", "changing mood", "emotional expression involving others", and "avoidance and suppression". The Cronbach's reliability coefficients for the scales were from 0.66 to 0.75, showing sufficiently high internal consistency. None of them related to gender or age. Multiple regression analysis revealed that 38% of the variance of the depression score was explained by "workload", "problems in personal relationships", and "reward from work" scores in BSJS, and also with "active solution" and "avoidance and suppression" scores in BSCP. Interaction analysis revealed that the coping profile modifies the relationship between job stressors and depressive symptoms; the "active solution" score was inversely associated with the depression score, particularly for the workers with high "problems in personal relationships" scores and low "reward from work" scores, while "avoidance and suppression" scores were positively associated with the depression score particularly for the workers with high "problems in personal relationships" scores. These results support part of the reliability and validity of BSCP, and also support the feasibility of BSCP as a tool for self-management and health education concerning job stress in the field of occupational mental health. The test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of BSCP should be confirmed in a future study. It also should be confirmed in future whether the coping profile relates with gender, age, job type, or other outcome of job stress in other populations.

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We made this report with a view to clarifying the effects of group counseling with visual aids for railway workers enjoying improved health conducted as a part of prevention activities for lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes. We employed the use of visual aids including slides, samples of blood and the measurement of vascular age on diabetes, and carried out group counseling to improve the interest, knowledge and realization of diabetes and lifestyle. This group counseling was carried out both with and without visual aids. A comparative study of the immediate effects mediated by the use or absence of visual aids was conducted. The workers who accepted our study and cooperated with us totaled 1054 (the average age was 43 ± 11.2). We divided them at random into the object group and comparative control group and two months later we were able to analyze 190 people among them who could be traced and followed up. As a result of using visual aids, the workers showed much more interest and realization of diabetes and their lifestyles (p < 0.05), and a lower learning decline than the group without visual aids in retention of this knowledge. On the other hand, we have not yet seen improvement in the physical data through group counseling. It is possible that the medical examination data taken beforehand for the object group and the comparative control group were both within the normal range, or the follow-up period was short at only two months after the group counseling was conducted. We conclude that the use of visual aids could lead to a change in consciousness among workers having some confidence in their health as the result of group counseling.

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