This article gives an overview of the recently introduced concept of work engagement: a positive, fulfilling, affective motivational state of work-related well-being. I first define engagement as a state including vigor, dedication, and absorption, and then refer to how engagement differs from related concepts (i.e., burnout and workaholism). Work engagement is a unique concept that is best predicted by job resources (e.g., autonomy, supervisory coaching, performance feedback) and personal resources (e.g., optimism, self-efficacy, self-esteem) and is predictive of psychological/physical health, proactive organizational behavior, and job performance. The most often used instrument to measure engagement is the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, a self-report instrument that has been validated in many countries across the world. The paper closes with practical implications to improve work engagement in terms of job and personal resources.

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Organizational justice consists of (1) distributive justice: referring to the justice of decision outcomes, (2) procedural justice: referring to the justice of the processes that lead to decision outcomes, and (3) interactional/relational justice: referring to the polite and considerate treatment of individuals by supervisors. In the European countries, several studies have reported that low organizational justice (especially, low procedural justice or low interactional justice) is associated with physical disorders (e.g., cardiovascular morbidity and mortality), mental disorders (e.g., depression), sickness absence, and health risk behavior (e.g., drinking and smoking). On the other hand, in Japan, research on the relationship between organizational justice and its health effect has just begun and is still limited. This article introduces the concept and measuring method of organizational justice as well as domestic and overseas research trend on the relationship between organizational justice and its health effect.

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Health disparities among occupational classes have been observed constantly since the Industrial Revolution. These disparities are widening in recent years. The importance of occupational stress has drawn close attention since it was pointed out that psychosocial characteristics of jobs could explain the health disparities across occupational classes. First, the uneven distribution of stressors among occupational classes may explain the uneven distribution of health problems. This is known as the 'mediation mechanism.' With this, workers in lower occupational classes are more exposed to occupational stress than those in upper occupational classes. Although quantitative/qualitative workloads are not always heavier in lower classes, the higher one's position is, the higher the reward and the availability of control, support and other resources. There is evidence that the statistical adjustment of workers' control over their jobs significantly reduces the relative risk of coronary heart diseases occurrence among workers in lower occupational classes as compared to those in higher occupational classes. Second, it has also been observed that the effect of occupational stress on health is greater in lower than higher occupational classes or, alternatively, that a significant effect on health from stress is found only in lower occupational classes. The effect explained by the interaction between low occupational class and occupational stress is known as the 'modification mechanism' or 'modification effect.' Regarding the interaction between occupational class/occupational stress and health problems, further studies are necessary among diverse work sites and a wider range of occupations. They should evaluate a more permanent effect with longer follow-up. Employing several-wave panel design would be fruitful because reciprocal causal relationships will be evaluated more precisely.

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Psychosocial stresses at work, such as high work demands, low control, or low levels of job hierarchy, are independent risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. Underlying mechanisms for this relationship include high blood pressure or disturbances in glucose metabolism caused by work-related stress. In the past ten years, metabolic syndrome has become a key factor for developing cardiovascular diseases via accelerating arthrosclerosis. Psychosocial stresses at work facilitate the accumulation of visceral fat through stimulating the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis and elevating cortisol, thus causing metabolic syndrome. In this paper, epidemiological studies which have examined the relationships between psychosocial stresses at work and metabolic syndrome, and the role of cortisol in these relationships, is introduced.

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The purpose of this study was to clarify mother's the SOC (Sense of Coherence) and unidentified complaint. The subjects were 42 mothers (Age±SD: 33.9±3.4) living in urban areas. We asked the subjects to self-rate their experiences according to scales such as SOC and lifestyle habits and evaluation were made 39 items of self-claimed sheet of unidentified complaint. The results revealed a negative correlation between SOC score and unidentified complaint score (r=-0.580, p<0.01). The high unidentified complaint score group were higher the frequency of late-evening snacks consumption (p<0.05) and long time getting to sleep (p<0.01) than low unidentified complaint score group. Lastly, the results of logistic regression analysis revealed that the SOC score was the only significant independent factor; the dependent variable was the level of unidentified complaint and the independent variables were the SOC, frequency of late-evening snacks consumption and sleep-onset time (β=0.306, Wald=3.917, p=0.048, Exp (β)=0.736). The higher the SOC score suggested the possibility the preventive effect against the occurrence of indefinite complaint.

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The aim of this study was to examine the influence of students' social skills on stress reduction, before they underwent nursing training. The subjects of the study were 88 nursing junior college second graders who agreed to participate in the study. I used "the social skill standard necessary for a student aiming to get a job that involves supporting other people"; this standard was developed by Higuchi/Hashimoto as an index of social skills. In addition, I measured stress, using the Profile of Mood States (POMS), which was the measurement standard of feelings. As a result of the analysis, some social skills and factors of POMS had a meaningful correlation. "Obedient self-expression," "another person's commission/another person's support skills," and "another person's reception skills" had meaningful correlations with stress. The results supported the hypothesis that a student's high social skills reduced stress before he/she underwent nursing training. It was suggested that the introduction of social skills could serve as a resource to reduce stress before students undergo nursing training.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between job search stressors, mental health and social skills in Japanese university students. The subjects were 448 Japanese university students (171 males, 277 females). The questionnaire contained demographics, the state of job hunting, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire Japanese version (Nakagawa & Daibo, 1985), the Job Search Stressor Scale (Kitami, 2009), and the 18-item Kikuchi's Social Skills Scale (Kikuchi, 1988). 1) Analysis by t-test revealed a significant difference in the job search stressors between groups with high and low social skills. 2) The result of regression analysis revealed that low social skills showed higher job search stressors and stronger influence of job search stressors on mental health. These results suggest to reduce job search stressors and to promote mental health by improve the social skills.

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The purpose of this study was to develop two scales, one measuring one's trend of cognitive appraisal, and the other measuring the usage trend of coping strategies against stressors. Most of the existing scales concerning cognitive appraisal and coping strategy are designed for limited usage to specific jobs or age groups. In this study, question items that are considered to be applicable regardless of the participant's job or age were collected from the existing scales of cognitive appraisal and coping strategy, as a step to develop scales with high generalities. Undergraduate and graduate students participated for more than once, and semantically redundant items were eliminated. As a result of factor analysis, 4 factors with 27 items were extracted for the cognitive appraisal scale, and 5 factors with 37 items for the coping strategy scale. These subscales and items were considered as minimal for both scales. Coefficient alphas showed high internal consistency.
The eventual goal is to expand the application of these scales to various developmental stages. Further research collecting data from other developmental stages would make this goal achievement.

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Ursolic acid that existing widely in plants has been well known to possess a wide range of biological functions, such as anti-inflammation, anticancer activities, reducing the stress response in crowded animal model. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of compression stockings coated with ursolic acid microcapsules on reduction of occupational stress among nurses. Subjects were 3 nurses working at the Mie University Hospital. Each nurse wore stockings coated with (UA) or without (Control) ursolic acid microcapsules during work. Salivary cortisol was measured before work, before lunch and after work. Analysis of variance showed significant interaction between the collection time for cortisol and with or without microcapsules (p<0.020). The cortisol levels in after work was significantly lower in UA than control (p<0.014). These results suggest that wearing of compression stockings coated with ursolic acid microcapsules during work is may reduce occupational stress.

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In this study, we investigated the various types of healthy activities that were carried out as stress management behavior by 205 Korean university students. Here, stress management behavior is defined as any form of healthy activities that intend to control stress. Results revealed that only one thirds of the participants were engaged in such activities. The main activities carried out by them included engaging in physical activities or hobbies, and talking or interacting with others. Such activities reflected clear gender differences. Results also indicated that men were more likely to engage in hobbies, while women were more likely to talk or interact with others.

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In the terminal stage of cancer, Man becomes sensitive to a spiritual stress as autonomous existence. The stress is caused by the discrepancy between objective situations and subjective feelings and also sense of values. In the terminal stage, it is usually difficult to palliate objective situations of autonomous decline. Therefore, the medical staff should support the change of subjective feelings and sense of values. This time, we experienced two cases who were successfully palliated subjective pain by communications focused on 'the support' and 'the interrelation' to the stress by autonomous existence in the terminal stage of cancer. Case 1 achieved an autonomous recovery of the self by the action 'It entrusts them with the mind-body'. Case 2 achieved an autonomous recovery of the self by clarifying an autonomous concept. In both cases, the stress has been relieved.

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