Telework and mental health among caregiving workers in Japan: a cross-sectional study using data from the 2024 JACSIS and implications for age-friendly workplaces

Telework is promoted as a strategy to support work-care balance; however, its mental health implications for workers providing childcare and/or older adult care remain unclear. We aimed to examine whether the association between caregiving roles and poor mental health differs according to teleworking frequency, with implications for developing age-friendly work environments. We analyzed the cross-sectional data of 12,692 employed adults (aged 20–59 years) from the 2024 Japan coronavirus disease 2019 and Society Internet Surveys. Caregiving status was classified into no caregiving, childcare only, older adult care only, and dual caregiving. The telework frequency was none, 1 day/week, 3 days/week, or daily. Poor mental health was defined as ≥ 1 mentally unhealthy day in the past 30 days. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) stratified by telework frequency and adjusted for demographics, socioeconomic status, health conditions, and job-related and social support factors. Relative to no caregiving, adjusted odds of poor mental health were higher for older adult care (OR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.43–2.16) and dual caregiving (OR = 2.62, 95% CI: 1.89–3.62). Among dual caregivers, odds were highest when teleworking 1 day/week (OR = 4.23, 95% CI: 2.24–7.99), imprecise at 3 days/week (OR = 2.18, 95% CI: 0.77–6.11), and not significant for daily teleworking. For older adult care, teleworking 3 days/week showed elevated, though non-significant odds (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 0.85–4.07). Older adult care and dual caregiving were linked to poorer mental health, and teleworking effects were nonlinear. Therefore, integrating flexible work plan with supportive job conditions may be beneficial in managing poor mental health among caregivers.