Factors related to depression among childcare worker;Cross-sectional study in Hokkaido, Japan

The goal of the present study was to investigate the factors related to depression among childcare workers. From November 2015 to August 2016, 358 nurseries (17.9%) answered a questionnaire. Adjusted for nursery work experience totaling more than five years, work place, cooperation in the work place, quality of sleep, hospital visiting, factors related to work of more than five years (OR=0.55, 95%CIs=(0.34, 0.91)), ability to consult troubles with boss (OR=0.36, 5%CIs=(0.18, 0.73)), to be able to take paid holidays (OR=0.49, 95%CIs=(0.27, 0.88)), having a spouse (OR=0.55, 95%CIs=(0.32, 0.94)) were considered to decrease the risk of depression. The Japanese government should prompt to improve the reatment of nurseries

Factors influencing attitudes toward end-of-life care by care workers at special nursing homes for the elderly A Cross-sectional study in Japan

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to clarify factors influencing care workers\u27 attitudes toward end-of-life (EOL) care characteristics at special nursing homes (SNHs). Methods: A questionnaire was initially sent to 630 care workers at 19 SNHs in October 2012. Written informed consent was obtained from 253 of these workers (40.2%), who then completed and returned the questionnaires. Participants were asked to reply to questions covering demographic data, work environment, depression status, experiences/education concerning EOL, communication skills, and attitudes toward EOL care. The Japanese version of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale, Form B (FATCOD-B-J) assessment instrument was used in the analysis of the data received. Using the median value of the FATCOD-B-J score, 130 subjects were allocated to the high score (HS) group (FATCOD-B-J?23) and 123 to the low score (LS) group (FATCOD-B-J<23). In the LS group, the odds ratios (ORs) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) of participants exhibiting relatively negative attitudes toward EOL care were calculated and adjusted for potential confounding factors using multivariate logistic regression model analysis. Results: Length of employment in the facilities of between 5 and 9 years (OR 0.37, 95% CI 0.16-0.87) as well as over 10 years (OR 0.39, 95% CI 0.16-0.96) was significantly associated with a decreased risk of placement in the LS group. Furthermore, moderate (OR 0.44, 95% CI 0.24-0.80) as well as high (OR 0.35, 95%CI 0.17-0.75) communication skills in accepting other opinions, were significantly associated with decreased risk of placement in the LS group. Conclusions: After adjustments for potential confounding variables, results indicated that extended experience as a care worker and higher communication skills in accepting other opinions were significantly associated with a reduced risk of negative attitudes toward EOL care

特別養護老人ホームにおける介護職の看取りに対する態度に影響尾及ぼす要因 : 日本における縦断研究

Aim: The aim of the present study was to clarify that the effects of accumulated experience in end-of-life care and communication skill on the attitudes of care workers’ toward end-of-life care. Methods: A study implemented 2012 to 2014. Two hundred and fifty-three questionnaires were returned (40.2%), and 170 were fully completed by care workers in special nursing homes. We sorted the responses into two groups by experience level: the experienced end-of-life care (EE) group and the inexperience end-of-life care (IE) group. Responses were also sorted by communication skill level: a high score communication (HSC) group and a low score communication (LSC) group. A two-way repeated measure analysis of variance was used for the statistical analysis. Results: The EE group was more likely to be younger (P = .04), to have a longer duration of employment (P < .001), and to have participated in an EOL care seminar in their facility (P = .02) than the IE group. Attitudes toward end-of-life care were significantly different between the EE and IE groups (df = 2, F = 3.35, P < .05). Attitudes toward end-of-life care were not significantly different when comparing the HSC and LSC groups (df = 2, F = 0.17, P = .85). The communication skill between the HSC and LSC groups differed significantly at 2012, 2013, and 2014. Conclusions: The accumulation of end-of-life care experience prompted a positive change in attitudes toward end-of-life care. Meanwhile, communication skill had no significant effect to change attitudes toward end-of-life care

Application of SeaXerocks on habitat mapping for the deep-sea megabenthos around cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts in Arnold Guyot of the northwestern Pacific - from the perspective of "whale's eye view"

In this study, to improve image acquisitions in the deep-sea environments, we performed habitat mapping by visualizing distribution patterns of benthic organisms and environments around cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts by using a state-of-the-art 3-D mapping device SeaXerocks system. We applied SeaXerocks mounted on the skid of an underwater remotely operated vehicle (ROV) along a survey line (about 1.4 km) on the flat top of the Arnold Guyot in the International Seabed Authority (ISA) licensed exploration area for Japan in the northwestern Pacific. As the result, we succeeded in grasping the distributions of microtopography and benthic organisms based on whale's eye view of the sea floor of ~1,400 m depth. The distributions of sessile organisms such as Porifera and Gorgonacea were aggregated on the surface of hard substrates as expected, indicating bottom conditions restrict the distribution of megabenthos. Our observation also clarified the pattern of sand ripples suggesting the direction of dominant bottom water current from northeast to southwest or vice versa. The SeaXerocks system enables us to grasp the relationship between distribution of organisms and environmental factors in more details than the previous methods. Knowledge of these patterns is essential not only for understanding biodiversity patterns but also for the selection of possible mining sites and preservation reference zones, which are required by the ISA environmental guidelines. Thus, the application of SeaXerocks would contribute to the environmental baseline studies and impact assessments relating to future deep-sea mining activities