The mental health status of employees in Semnan University of Medical Sciences (1385)

Intorduction: The main goal for every university is to educate professionals in order to improve the quality of well being of body and mind of the society's members. To approach this important issue, universities needs healthy employees to enable them to educate healthy, qualified, well trained, and sensitive individuals for societies. Therefore, investigation about the health situation of the employee has a prime importance. This study was carried out to evaluate the status of mental health of employees in the Semnan University of Medical Sciences. Material and Methods: The present study was a descriptive-analytical and cross- sectional study. 414 employees of the Semnan University of Medical Ssciences were included in the study. Data were collected using a self-reporting questionnaire (GHQ-28). Then, data were analyzed by SPSS software and also mean, standard deviation, absolute & relative frequency were determined. Statistical analysis was performed by Chi–square, Pearson & Spearman correlation coefficient at the level of 5% and logistic regression analysis. Results: Totally, 28.6% of employees suffered from mental diseases. The most cases were observed among the employees who working in treatment setting (41%) and the least ones observed among the employees who working in office setting. The rate of mental disorders was greater in individuals aged 40-49 (29.3%) ,women (37.4%), undergraduates (40.7%), singles (60%), as well as the individual who working for 20 or more years (35.2%) in the university. Interpretation logistic regression showed that index of gender, the level of education, and occupation has a significant influence over mental disorder. Conclusion: The rate of mental disorder was 2.5 times more than those reported by WHO, but was similar with those reported in Iran. More investigations are needed for better understanding of the reasons for higher prevalence of mental disorder among women, undergraduates government employees and those individuals who working in treatment setting. The result of these studies can lead to find a solution for this problem.