Al-Amal Complex for Mental Health, Dammam, Saudi Arabia.
Int J Ment Health Syst. 2009 Nov 19;3(1):25. doi: 10.1186/1752-4458-3-25.
Mental fitness for work is the ability of workers to perform their work without risks for themselves or others. Mental fitness was a neglected area of practice and research. Mental ill health at work seems to be rising as a cause of disablement. Psychiatrists who may have had no experience in relating mental health to working conditions are increasingly being asked to undertake these examinations. This research was done to explore the relationship of mental ill health and fitness to work and to recognize the differences between fit and unfit mentally ill patients.
This study was cross sectional one. All cases referred to Al-Amal complex for assessment of mental fitness during a period of 12 months were included. Data collected included demographic and clinical characteristics, characteristics of the work environment and data about performance at work. All data was subjected to statistical analysis.
Total number of cases was 116, the mean age was 34.5 +/- 1.4. Females were 35.3% of cases. The highly educated patients constitute 50.8% of cases. The decision of the committee was fit for regular work for 52.5%, unfit for 19.8% and modified work for 27.7%. The decision was appreciated only by 29.3% of cases. There were significant differences between fit, unfit and modified work groups. The fit group had higher level of education, less duration of illness, and better performance at work. Patients of the modified work group had more physical hazards in work environment and had more work shift and more frequent diagnosis of substance abuse. The unfit group had more duration of illness, more frequent hospitalizations, less productivity, and more diagnosis of schizophrenia.
There are many factors affecting the mental fitness the most important are the characteristics of work environment and the most serious is the overall safety of patient to self and others. A lot of ethical and legal issues should be kept in mind during such assessment as patient's rights, society's rights, and the laws applied to unfit people.
工作心理健康是指工人在工作中不会对自己或他人造成风险的能力。工作心理健康曾是一个被忽视的实践和研究领域。工作中的精神健康问题似乎越来越成为残疾的一个原因。可能没有将精神健康与工作条件联系起来的经验的精神科医生越来越多地被要求进行这些检查。这项研究旨在探讨精神健康不佳与工作能力的关系，并认识到适合和不适合的精神疾病患者之间的差异。
这是一项横断面研究。所有在 12 个月期间被转介到 Al-Amal 综合评估中心进行精神健康评估的病例都包括在内。收集的数据包括人口统计学和临床特征、工作环境特征以及工作表现数据。所有数据均进行了统计分析。
总病例数为 116 例，平均年龄为 34.5 +/- 1.4 岁。女性占病例的 35.3%。受过高等教育的患者占病例的 50.8%。委员会的决定为 52.5%适合常规工作，19.8%不适合工作，27.7%适合修改工作。只有 29.3%的病例对决定表示赞赏。适合工作、不适合工作和修改工作组之间存在显著差异。适合工作组的受教育程度较高，发病时间较短，工作表现较好。修改工作组的患者工作环境中存在更多的身体危害，工作班次更多，物质滥用的诊断更频繁。不适合工作组的患者发病时间较长，住院次数较多，工作效率较低，精神分裂症的诊断较多。
影响工作心理健康的因素有很多，最重要的是工作环境的特征，最严重的是患者对自己和他人的整体安全。在进行这种评估时，应牢记许多道德和法律问题，如患者的权利、社会的权利以及适用于不适合的人的法律。
