At present, almost five years have passed since the Certified Psychologist Act in Japan was enacted. However, the number of psychologists working in medical settings is limited, and no progress has been made in creating a system that can provide psychological support and is covered by the national health insurance scheme. This study aimed to examine the relationship between employment status (full-time vs. part-time) of licensed psychologists and psychological support services by conducting a secondary analysis of national survey data on Japanese licensed psychologists in a medical setting. This was conducted as a subsidized project by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare. We analyzed the number of psychologists and work tasks by surveying representatives of psychology departments (n=826 facilities). Factor analyses regarding the kinds of psychological services revealed 10 factors. A hierarchical linear model was used to analyze the number of full-time and part-time employees in the facilities and the degree of performance of psychological support work for each of the 10 factors. We found that the degree of performance of all psychological support tasks increased significantly with the number of full-time psychologists. For the six tasks of psychological support for "major psychiatric disorders" and "sexual/behavioral problem and addictions", "psychological support for groups/outreach," "psychological support for inpatients/case conference," "community collaboration (general)," and "multi-professional collaboration," the degree of performance increased when the number of full-time psychologists increased; however, it did not increase when the number of part-time workers increased. Regarding the four tasks of "support for family and socioeconomic problems," "psychological testing/outpatient counseling," "education, research, and organizational management/support for related parties," and "community collaboration (children)," the degree of performance increased even when there were three or more part-time workers. However, the increase in the performance level related to the items of "education, research, and organizational management/support for related parties" was negligible compared to those where the number of full-time employees increased. These results indicate that it is desirable to have more than one full-time psychologist to expand professional and developmental psychological support services. In addition, the contribution to the organization may be enhanced by hiring part-time psychologists full-time. It is hoped that the system will be reviewed, and full-time employment of licensed psychologists will increase.
 Authors' abstract