National Survey on Mental Health Status of Industrial and production centers’ Employees in Iran

Mental health is one of the main pillars of personal, social and professional life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), mental health is known as one of the main areas of health. Mental health of people could be consider as their mental ability to move harmoniously, ability to cope in difficult situations and having skills to recover themselves. Paying attention to the mental health status of the working community, as an effective group on the promotion of organizations and economic productivity, in any countries, is of great importance. On the other hand, mental disorders can lead to the negative and unpleasant effects on the workers’ feeling of secure and safe in their jobs and increase their dissatisfaction. This study, as a part of a large-scale national survey, was conducted to determine the prevalence of psychological disorders in employees of industrial and production centers and the factors affecting them in Iran.

The present national survey was performed cross-sectionally on 13661 employees of 680 industrial and production environments of Iran. The census data of the labor and production community of Iran in 2011 was used and weight sampling was performed based on the weight of the existing workplace. In workplaces with 10 to 50 people, all their employees were examined. In workplaces with more than 50 employees which were divided into 4 categories( 50 to 99 people, 100 to 500 people, 501 to 1000, and More than 1000 people) samples were selected based on weight ratio using a random number table.  Subjects were selected using cluster sampling method from 31 provinces. The data collection tool was the SCL-25 questionnaire which was the summary form of the SCL-90-R questionnaire that indicates the existence of mental disorders in 9 dimensions. After collecting information, the data were entered into SPSS statistical software version 21 and the prevalence of mental disorders in the working community of the country was estimated by both pessimistic and optimistic methods and the distribution of mental health status of employees by province was reported. Then, the role of possible factors affecting mental disorders (with an optimistic approach) was investigated using Chi-square test and regression model.

The prevalence of mental disorder in the working population of the country was estimated between35.4% to 61.5% and the highest prevalence was observed in the age group of 36 to 45 years and in the provinces of North Khorasan (54.4%), Sistan and Baluchestan (48.2%) and Zanjan (47.3%). The lowest prevalence was in Hormozgan province (23.1%). The prevalence of mental disorders among divorced employees (40.4%) or with the death of a spouse (39%) was significantly higher than married employees (P-value = 0.049). With increasing education level, the frequency of psychological disorders among the subjects decreased (p-value <0.001). Daily-paid employees experienced the highest prevalence of psychological disorders (44%) and formal employees experienced the best mental health status (p-value <0.001). Night shift, work experience less than one year,  labor tasks and working at the transportation departments were other factors affecting the prevalence of psychological disorders (p-value <0.001). 

based on the results, the prevalence of psychological disorders among the population of workers in the industrial and production centers of the country, even with a minimalist approach, is higher than the world level. This finding indicates the need to implement psychological intervention programs at the country level, especially in the provinces of North Khorasan, Zanjan and Sistan and Baluchestan. The most psychologically vulnerable groups were divorced workers or deceased spouses, people with low levels of education and with occupations such as labor, transportation and daily- paid. This shows that it is necessary to prioritize these groups in policy-making and implementation of intervention programs. What is certain is that improving the mental health of employees can be cost-effective by increasing the efficiency and performance of employees.