EXPLORATION OF POSITIVE MENTAL HEALTH LEVELS AMONG PROFESSIONALS IN PAKISTAN: AN INDIGENOUS PERSPECTIVE

OBJECTIVE: To investigate prevalence of mental health states (positive mental wellbeing levels) across professional groups working in diverse work settings in indigenous context. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at public tertiary care hospitals (Jinnah Hospital Lahore, Combined Military Hospital), telecommunication companies (Warid, Telenor), Multinational firms, consultancy firms, Askari bank, Muslim Commercial Bank located at Islamabad and Lahore, Pakistan from February 2016 to December 2016. Data was collected from professionals (N=509) through purposive sampling technique. The present research employed Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) and Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) for measuring positive mental wellbeing levels and psychological distress (complete mental health). RESULTS: Descriptive statistics revealed satisfactory psychometrics of MHC-SF (a=0.86) and BSI (a=0.97) and its subscale results of ANOVA showed significant mean difference across professional groups in social wellbeing F 2(4,616=4.20; p<. 001), somatization F (4,566=4.58 p<0.01), eta(3) = 0.03, interpersonal sensitivity F (4,599) =5.23; p<0.001 and paranoid ideation F (4,585=2.88; p<.02). Post-hoc analysis using Tukey followed by ANOVA further revealed mean differences between specific professional groups on social wellbeing dimension i.e., bankers and telecom officers (-1.89; p<0.03), doctors and telecom officers (-3.07; p<05). CONCLUSION: Higher level of positive mental health buffers impact of negative stressors in personal and work domains. This also reflects a dire need to shift focus towards engaging mental health promotion strategies in order to develop flourishing, productive workforce, rather than solely focusing on assuaging mental illness and psychological distress.