ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MENTAL HEALTH DISTRESS AND WORK PRODUCTIVITY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Introduction: Mental health of workers is an essential determinant of their workproductivity and their overall health. Poor mental health contributes meaningfully to arange of chronic physical illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, and cardiovasculardisorders. Besides, mental health distress can severely impact the ability to work,leading to increased absenteeism and/or presenteeism. Consequently, employers andbusinesses are negatively affected by poor mental health among their employees due tothe lost productivity and profits, as well as the increased direct costs of managing thesehealth problems. Aim of work: To investigate the association between mental healthdistress and work productivity in terms of absenteeism and presenteeism. Materialsand Methods: One-hundred and eighty male shipyard-workers were interviewed usinga predesigned questionnaire for sociodemographic characteristics, work characteristics,lifestyle behaviors, perceived health status, and chronic diseases. Mental health distresswas measured using the Kessler psychological distress scale (K6), while measuresof work productivity (absenteeism and presenteeism) were calculated according tothe scoring guide of the Health and Work Performance Questionnaire (HPQ-shortform). Results: The mean age of participants was 48.3 years (± 8.17). Operators  and service-workers constituted 73.3% of all participants, while professionals andadministrative workers represented 16.7% and 10%, respectively. Eight workers (4.4%)had high mental health distress, while 12.2% had moderate distress. The mean daysof absenteeism and presenteeism were significantly higher among participants withmoderate or high mental distress compared to low distress (p < 0.001). Further, withineach level of mental distress, the mean presenteeism days were significantly higher thanthe mean absenteeism days. Moderate and high mental distresses were associated with2.1 and 3.9 times greater rates of absenteeism and presenteeism compared to low mentaldistress. Conclusion: Mental health distress is associated with both higher absence andpresenteeism rates. Effective workplace policies for mental health promotion and casemanagement could yield substantial increases in worker’s productivity.