Occupational Mental Health: A Study of Work-Related Mental Health among Clinical Nurses

Objective: This paper reports a study performed to investigate and assess the mental health as well as the demographic characteristics of nurses to examine their mental health status based on four physical, anxiety, social-function and depression items. Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was accomplished on 86 nurses working at three hospitals, affiliated to Iranian health ministry, in Ilam city(western Iran) all the cases were selected by purposeful sampling method. Data was collected by a two-part questionnaire containing individual data and GHQ -28 Standardized Questionnaire. The GHO-28 was developed by Goldberg, in 1978, as a screening tool to detect those likely to have or be at risk of developing psychiatric disorders. The GHQ-28 is a 28-item measure of emotional distress in medical settings. Analysis was done by SPSS 18 software. Results: The majority of participants were females(50.6 vs. 49.4) of 35-40 years old(27.2%), 84 percent were married(vs. 16%), 35.8 percent with 10-15 years of record(vs. 33.3% less than 5), 22.2% with 5-10, and 8.6% with more than 15-years of work record. The majority of participants have worked in surgical wards of hospitals. The analysis of GHQ results showed that 43.2%(n=35) of participants were suspected to suffer from mental disorders(vs. 56.8% n=46 healthy participants); of all the suspected cases, 12.3% were supposed to have physical symptoms, 16% anxiety symptoms, 42% social dysfunction, and 6.2% symptoms of depression. In general, the participants demonstrated a Mean (R) SD of mental health score equal to 23.65 +/- 9.43. Conclusion: Research results showed that the high prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms among nurses is alarming. It was concluded that providing efficient adequate and appropriate support services for this group can result in more healthy nurses as well as promotion of public health.