薬理と治療

Abstract

Background　Department store employees are required to maintain a smiling face while serving customers. Since it is difficult to smile under stress, employees need techniques for stress reduction that can be easily incorporated into the daily routine. Objective　We investigated whether mastication of chewing gum could reduce stress among department store employees. Methods　A total of 346 department store employees were enrolled, with 169 being allocated to the chewing gum group（78 men and 91 women; mean age: 38.4±11.3 years）and 177 being allocated to the control group（80 men and 97 women; mean age: 40.1±11.5 years）. The chewing gum group masticated gum four times daily for six weeks and there was no intervention in the control group. To investigate the effect on stress, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the 23-item short version of the new Brief Job Stress Questionnaire were completed by the participants. Results After six weeks of masticating gum on a regular basis, the chewing gum group had significantly lower scores for“depression”items in the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale compared with the control group. The chewing gum group had also lower scores for items related to“physical and mental stress reaction”in the Brief Job Stress Questionnaire. Conclusion　Habitual chewing of gum reduced stress among department store employees involved in customer service. These findings suggest that store employees could use routine mastication of gum to alleviate stress. （ID：UMIN000037338）