Title
Changes in COVID-19 measures in the workplace: 8-month follow-up in a cohort study of full-time employees in Japan
Date Issued
01 January 2021
Access level
open access
Resource Type
journal article
Author(s)
Asaoka H.
Sasaki N.
Imamura K.
Kuroda R.
Tsuno K.
Kawakami N.
Publisher(s)
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Abstract
Objectives: It is unclear how many workplace COVID-19 preventive measures were maintained during repeated outbreaks. The aim of this study was to investigate a longitudinal change of implementation of workplace preventive measures responding to COVID-19 in Japan. Methods: An online longitudinal study was conducted using a cohort of full-time employees in Japan, starting in March 2020 (T1), with follow-up surveys in May (T2), August (T3), and November (T4) 2020. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to compare the difference among the four surveys in the mean number of 23 predetermined items of the measures implemented. Results: The final sample comprised 800 employees. The mean number of the implemented measures increased from T1 to T2, but did not change from T2 to T3, then decreased from T3 to T4. The number of workplace preventive measures significantly increased from T1 to T2 for 21 items (P <.001), and significantly decreased from T3 to T4 for 14 items (P <.001 to P =.005). Conclusions: While the preventive measures responding to COVID-19 in the workplace were well-implemented during the earlier phase of the outbreak, they seem to have been relaxed after a huge outbreak (T3 to T4: August to November 2020). Workplaces should be encouraged to continue the preventive measures over repeated outbreaks.
Volume
63
Issue
1
Number
e12273
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Epidemiología
Salud ocupacional
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85116958399
PubMed ID
Source
Journal of Occupational Health
ISSN of the container
13419145
Sponsor(s)
Mississippi Department of Mental Health - DMH
This work was supported by the Grant‐in‐Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) (A) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (No. 18H04072) (to Norito Kawakami), and internal funds of the Department of Mental Health, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo. The sponsors had no role in the design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; in the preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.
All authors declare no relevant conflicts of interest in relation to the subject of the manuscript. NK reports grants from SB AtWork Corp, Fujitsu Ltd, and TAK Ltd, personal fees from the Occupational Health Foundation, SB AtWork Corp, RIKEN, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan Dental Association, Sekisui Chemicals, Junpukai Health Care Center, Osaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry, outside the submitted work.
Sources of information:
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