Analysis Of Mental Health Status And Its Influencing Factors Of Employees Of Chinese-funded Enterprises In Ethiopia

ObjectiveA large number of overseas workers go to Africa every year in China.Those who go abroad belong to the group of fragile psychology and their mental health status is easily affected by various factors.This study aims to understand the mental health status of Chinese employees in Ethiopia during the COVID-19 epidemic and analyze the influential factors,so as to provide strategic suggestions for improving the mental health status of overseas employees.Methods825 employees of Chinese enterprises still in Ethiopia were selected for this study from June 27?28 and December 27?28,2020,The survey was carried out by issuing network questionnaires to the employees through the person in charge of each enterprise.The survey tools were self-designed general condition questionnaire and GHQ-12 standard mental health scale.The survey contents mainly included basic information,personal attitudes and behaviors,subjective feelings about local prevention and control measures,knowledge about COVID-19,and mental health status.GHQ-12 scale used 3 points as the cut-off point,a total score of GHQ-12?3 was considered to be positive for screening,that means the subjects had low mental health level and suspected mental health problems.GHQ-12 score less than 3 is considered to be negative,indicating that subjects have good mental health status.In this study,data were collected based on WenJuanXing and analyzed by SPSS 22.0 and SAS 9.4 software.The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to test the normality,comparison of positive rate of mental health?univariate analysis of influential factors of mental health status of employees was performed by ?~2 test,and multivariate analysis was performed by unconditional binary logistic regression.Results1.825 employees completed the survey.In the first survey,38.75%(260/671)were suspected to have mental health problems;In the second survey,48.70%(75/154)were suspected to have mental health problems.The anxiety and depression of the employees in the last 2 weeks was relatively prominent.2.The results of first multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the epidemic had an impact on the plan of returning home[OR=3.293(95%CI:1.897?5.714)],employees worried about being in Africa and unable to take care of their family members in China[OR=2.329(95%CI:1.198?4.528)],and the company did not take any measures during the epidemic period[OR=2.329(95%CI:1.198?4.528)]were risk factors of mental health;Employees had no physical symptoms in the past month[OR=0.305(95%CI:0.171?0.543)],worked normally[OR=0.517(95%CI:0.322?0.831)],checked the number of confirmed cases in Ethiopia once a day or every few days[OR=0.598(95%CI:0.387?0.923)?0.225(95%CI:0.095?0.533)],felt that a few local people wore masks in public places[OR=0.419(95%CI:0.234?0.750)],the company guaranteed the necessities of life supply[OR=0.609(95%CI:0.371?1.000)]and conducted COVID-19 knowledge promotion[OR=0.335(95%CI:0.183-0.614)]were the protective factors of mental health.3.The results of second multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the epidemic had an impact on the plan of returning home[OR=24.41(95%CI:1.57?380.23)],cumulative working years in Ethiopia within 2 years[OR=14.88(95%CI:1.12?111.99)],worried about income decrease[OR=38.61(95%CI:4.90-304.00)],always?often and occasionally suspected of infecting COVID-19 according to the symptoms described online[OR=30.92(95%CI:1.19?806.09)?125.29(95%CI:5.65?2780.12)?31.80(95%CI:3.98?253.98)]and social unrest[OR=13.46(95%CI:1.62?111.99)]were risk factors of mental health;Employees thought that the living environment in Africa is difficult or ordinary[OR=0.03(95%CI:0.00-0.39)?0.02(95%CI:0.00-0.28)],worked normally[OR=0.02(95%CI:0.00?0.80)]and worked from home[OR=0.00(95%CI:0.00?0.44)],decentralized dining[OR=0.02(95%CI:0.00?0.28)],distributed handed out sanitizer[OR=0.07(95%CI:0.00?0.92)]and provided mental health support[OR=0.10(95%CI:0.01?0.74)]were the protective factors of mental health.4.The employees had a high knowledge rate of COVID-19,and the knowledge rate of the two surveys were both more than 90%,but there was no statistical correlation between awareness and mental health.ConclusionsDuring the COVID-19 epidemic,the mental health status of employees of Chinese-funded enterprises in Ethiopia was poor,and as the epidemic worsened,the mental health problems of employees became more serious.Those employees who experienced social unrest,complained of physical symptoms,have worked in Ethiopia for 2 years or less,worried about their family and income,suspected that they were infected with COVID-19,and paid much attention to the epidemic are the key groups that should be focused of attention.The employees who were affected by the epidemic situation and whose company has not taken adequate prevention and control measures are also the key groups to be concerned.A variety of mental health intervention measures should be taken to alleviate anxiety,depression and other unhealthy emotions.