Poor Psychosocial Safety Climate Increases Teleworker Vulnerability to Suicidal Ideation.

Abstract

Suicide is the leading cause of death among the working-age population in Japan. Unlike task-level occupational factors, the relation between suicidal ideation and psychosocial safety climate (PSC), a crucial organization-level factor to protect workers' psychological health, is understudied, especially among teleworkers. A cross-sectional web-based survey was used to select 1988 participants. A series of multivariable logistic regression analyses with the interaction term of PSC and teleworking arrangements was performed. Poor PSC was associated with a higher risk of having suicidal ideation (adjusted odds ratio = 1.57, P = 0.008), and its relation was pronounced among teleworkers (adjusted odds ratio for the interaction term = 1.96, P = 0.035), even after adjusting for task-level occupational factors. This empirical study highlights the heightened risk of suicidal ideation by poor PSC, especially among teleworkers.