Akihito Shimazu Seminar

2022.3.23 / Research and Practice in Mental Health—The Three HPs: Health Promotion, Higher Productivity, and Happiness

The core of activities at SFC is the "seminar" (kenkyukai) . Faculty and students engage in cutting-edge research activities together, and students acquire advanced expertise by tackling real-world problems.

The theme of our seminar is the "kokoro" (mind/heart). The "kokoro" is often thought of as something invisible and elusive. Therefore, we are exploring its true nature by emphasizing how to visualize it in order to get closer to it. Within the study of the "kokoro," we specifically focus on "mental health." General mental health research often focuses on mental distress such as depression, anxiety, discouragement, irritation, and stress. However, the term "mental health" is inherently neutral and also includes positive aspects like vitality and joy.

Globally, research on these positive aspects of the mind is still underdeveloped. We are advancing our research with a two-pronged approach: not only how to support those with mental distress, but also how to build up mental vitality. On the seminar's website, we list three keywords—"health promotion," "higher productivity," and "happiness"—and a major objective of our seminar is to explore these concepts. While the approaches, perspectives, theories, and research methods to achieve this vary, they all commonly incorporate these three keywords. In fact, each student has a diverse research theme, and we adopt a style where they can pursue research on topics of their own choosing. For example, one student is researching smartphone addiction for their graduation thesis and is creating a coaching-style program to help people overcome it. They are also applying this program in practice to verify the extent to which users overcome their addiction and the impact it has on their mental health. Currently, for graduation theses, literature reviews are more common due to the restrictions on surveys and experiments caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A literature review involves organizing what is known within an academic field. For instance, one student is researching "nostalgia," while another student interested in sports is investigating the mechanisms and coping strategies for the "yips" (a movement disorder that prevents athletes from performing as they intend).

We developed an app called "WEDiary" and scientifically verified how recording daily "accomplishments" and "things you were able to do" affects the improvement of work engagement (a positive psychological state toward one's job). The results have been submitted to an international journal. This kind of research was very memorable. Another unique project involves research where we dispatch nail artists to companies for employees to receive nail care, and we verify its effects. A student is in charge of coordinating this project. In addition to the effects of receiving nail care, psychological benefits from communicating with the nail artists are also anticipated. In the future, this could even develop into training nail artists who can draw out their clients' needs.

There are two main areas. The first concerns issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic and work styles. The subjects of my research are often working adults. The pandemic led to an increase in telecommuting and remote work, drastically changing the premise of taking crowded trains to city-center offices to work face-to-face. To investigate how this affects workers' mental health and work engagement, we have been conducting a longitudinal survey of internet monitors every three months since 2020 as a major lab project.

The second is suicide prevention measures utilizing social media. While social media can make life more convenient and enjoyable, it also has aspects that can cause people to suffer. We are conducting commissioned research for the Japan Support Center for Suicide Countermeasures to verify how social media use can harm mental health and what can lead to effective suicide prevention. This research began last year, and we found that while mental health remains good with up to 2.5 hours of social media use, it deteriorates with longer usage. This year, with the cooperation of Professor Jin Nakazawa and Professor Tadashi Okoshi from the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies , we are using information technology to record who used which apps and for how long, and we are examining the relationship between that data and their daily mental health. Furthermore, we aim not only to investigate the impact of social media on mental health but also to provide recommendations on social media usage tailored to individuals.

Additionally, we are conducting research with private companies on improving labor productivity. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed educational training content to help employees work with vitality and measured its effectiveness by having them participate in group sessions. However, since group training became impossible during the pandemic, we are now digitizing the content and verifying its effectiveness.

Last year, two students went on to graduate school, while the others found employment in private companies. The career trend for students seems to be that rather than specializing in the mental health field, many take on generalist positions in companies, building on what they learned at SFC.

We asked Shu Kanegae, a fourth-year student in the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies and a member of the Shimazu Seminar, about its appeal.

The seminar brings together students who are interested in mental health. We can tackle familiar "kokoro" issues that everyone wonders about, such as research on using coaching to help with smartphone addiction or studies on the differences in athletes' conditions between games with and without spectators. This allows us to start our research with a great sense of fascination.

Themes can be set freely, without being restricted to humanities or sciences. While individual research is the main focus, there are many opportunities for students to interact through activities like "check-ins" (topic introductions at the beginning of class), reading circles, and research presentations. We had a very lively discussion from a psychological perspective on the topic of "The Bachelor," which was popular on a video streaming service.

Professor Shimazu is someone we can always rely on when we're in trouble, and he supports us so that we can conduct our research independently. In addition, there are several other mentors and academic advisors who can provide advice based on more specialized knowledge.

First, I gained statistical knowledge when analyzing the data I collected. I wasn't good at statistics and found it difficult to use statistical software, but I believe I've acquired a skill that will be useful in the future.

I also gained debate skills. Members take turns moderating, and by reading books on various themes and discussing them in small groups, my facilitation skills were honed.

The moment I felt glad to have joined the seminar was when I experienced the thorough care the professors provide for each student. The Shimazu Seminar has a very small number of students—11 students to 4 instructing professors (as of January 2021)—so communication between students and professors is very close.

While being active in the Athletic Association's track and field club and working at a startup, I was able to pursue my research at my own pace amidst these wide-ranging activities. I feel this was possible because I developed the ability to advance my research on my own, thanks to the professors' guidance.

We spend a large part of our lives "working." Labor can be painful and difficult "prison labor" (牢働, rōdō), or it can be fulfilling and vibrant "pleasant labor" (朗働, rōdō). So, how can we improve "prison labor" and achieve "pleasant labor"?

To answer this question, our seminar conducts its activities by combining various academic fields, with psychology as its foundation. We are widely recruiting those who want to scientifically investigate labor, "prison labor," and "pleasant labor"; those who want to develop technologies and measures to realize "pleasant labor"; and those interested in bridging research and practice.

Professor Akihito Shimazu, Faculty of Policy Management, Faculty Profile

Akihito Shimazu Laboratory Website

When I first entered university, I was interested in urban planning and took architecture-related classes. However, I increasingly began to wonder if this was really the direction I wanted to go. A small trigger led me to research smartphone addiction, and I joined the Shimazu Seminar. Now, I'm truly glad I was able to do this research.

As it is a psychology-based seminar, the research themes are wide-ranging. The members are also very diverse, and discussions are always lively. Despite coming from a science background, I realized I'm actually more inclined toward the humanities, and I experienced many moments where my science major proved useful. I think the discoveries you make after you start studying and the opportunity to meet diverse people are major advantages of choosing SFC. I believe that people who aren't sure what they want to do in university are the very ones who should come to SFC! (Shu Kanegae)

Interview and production cooperation: Takeo Kuwabara Seminar, MC Team