ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Occupational Health and Safety
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1646180
The relationship between 3S (Seiri, Seiton and Seiso) behaviors, and psychological distress and work engagement
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Japan, Kitakyushu, Japan
- 2University of Occupational and Environmental Health Japan, Kitakyushu, Japan
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Objectives: This study aimed to examine the relationship between 3S (Seiri [Sort], Seiton [Set], and Seiso [Shine]) behaviors in the workplace and workers' psychological distress and work engagement. Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted using an online survey among workers in Japan (n = 9,451 at baseline; n = 6,156 at follow-up). At baseline, participants were asked whether they routinely practiced 3S behaviors in the workplace every day. Psychological distress was measured using the Japanese version of Kessler 6-Item Psychological Distress Scale (K6), and work engagement was assessed using the Japanese version of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9) at baseline and follow-up. Covariates included industry type and K6/UWES-9 at baseline. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the relationship between 3S behaviors at baseline and K6/UWES-9 at follow-up. Results: There were 3,862 (62.7%) workers who practiced 3S behaviors. Workers who did not practice 3S behaviors had significantly higher psychological distress than those who did (standardized coefficient = 0.03, p value=0.006). There was no statistical difference in work engagement between workers who practiced 3S behaviors and those who did not (standardized coefficient = -0.01, p value=0.339). Conclusions: Daily practice of 3S behaviors was related to lower psychological distress among workers, suggesting that 3S may serve not only as a tool for quality management but also as a potential strategy for improving mental health in the workplace.
Keywords: three S, Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, psychological distress, work engagement
Received: 12 Jun 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sawajima, Nagata, Odagami, Mori, Purwito and Mori. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Tomohisa Nagata, University of Occupational and Environmental Health Japan, Kitakyushu, Japan
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