Kuwahara Keisuke, Minoura Akira, Shimada Yuhei, Kawai Yuki, Fukushima Hiroko, Kondo Makoto, Sugiyama Takehiro
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Shinjuku-ku, Japan.
Department of Public Health, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan.
J Occup Health. 2025 Aug 21;67(1). doi: 10.1093/joccuh/uiaf044.
Objectives Strengthening the research workforce is essential to safeguard public health and human lives. This study examined the associations of work hours and perceived performance appraisal with the intention to leave the medical research workforce. Methods This cross-sectional study used data collected from medical researchers between December 2022 and January 2023. The questionnaire was distributed to participants via all 141 societies of the Japanese Association of Medical Sciences. Weekly work hours were self-reported using 10 response options. Perceived appraisal of research performance at work was assessed using six response options and dichotomized into inappropriately appraised (slightly disagree/totally disagree) and the rest. Intention to leave the research workforce was also self-reported and dichotomized. We calculated multivariable-adjusted odds ratios (OR) for intention to leave, according to work hours and perceived appraisal. Results Of 3139 participants (852 women), most (n = 686) worked 60-79 hours weekly. One in four (n = 745) felt inappropriately appraised, and 11% (n = 356) intended to leave. A U-shaped association was observed between work hour and intention to leave (adjusted OR: 2.05 [95% confidence interval: 1.12, 3.73] for weekly working 100 hours or longer), although the quadratic trend was not significant (P = 0.15). The inappropriately appraised group had 3.6 times (95% confidence interval: 2.81, 4.58) higher ORs of intending to leave than compared with counterparts. Conclusions The present results suggest that researchers who work long hours and feel inappropriately appraised were more likely to consider leaving the medical research workforce.
目标 加强研究人员队伍对于保障公众健康和人类生命至关重要。本研究调查了工作时长和感知到的绩效评估与离开医学研究人员队伍的意愿之间的关联。方法 这项横断面研究使用了2022年12月至2023年1月期间从医学研究人员收集的数据。问卷通过日本医学科学协会的所有141个学会分发给参与者。每周工作时长通过10个回答选项由参与者自行报告。工作中研究绩效的感知评估通过6个回答选项进行评估，并分为评估不当（有点不同意/完全不同意）和其他情况。离开研究人员队伍的意愿也由参与者自行报告并进行二分法划分。我们根据工作时长和感知评估计算了离开意愿的多变量调整优势比（OR）。结果 在3139名参与者（852名女性）中，大多数（n = 686）每周工作60 - 79小时。四分之一（n = 745）的人感觉评估不当，11%（n = 356）的人打算离开。工作时长与离开意愿之间观察到呈U形关联（每周工作100小时或更长时间的调整后OR：2.05 [95%置信区间：1.12, 3.73]），尽管二次趋势不显著（P = 0.15）。与评估适当的组相比，评估不当组打算离开的OR高出3.6倍（95%置信区间：2.81, 4.58）。结论 目前的结果表明，工作时长较长且感觉评估不当的研究人员更有可能考虑离开医学研究人员队伍。
