Industrial health
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To clarify the effects of changing shift schedules from a full-day to a half-day before a night shift, 12 single nurses and 18 married nurses with children that engaged in night shift work in a Japanese hospital were investigated. Subjects worked 2 different shift patterns consisting of a night shift after a half-day shift (HF-N) and a night shift after a day shift (D-N). Physical activity levels were recorded with a physical activity volume meter to measure sleep/wake time more precisely without restricting subjects' activities. ⋯ Repeated ANCOVA of the series of physical activities showed significant differences with shift (p < 0.01) and marriage (p < 0.01) for variances, and age (p < 0.05) for a covariance. The paired t-test to compare the effects of changing shift patterns in each subject group and ANCOVA for examining the hourly activity differences between single and married nurses showed that the effects of a change in shift schedules seemed to have less effect on married nurses than single nurses. These differences might due to the differences of their family/home responsibilities.