Public Health Department, NOVA Medical School (Faculdade Ciências Médicas), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (NOVA Lisbon University), Campo Mártires da Pátria, 130. 1169-056 Lisboa, Portugal.
Public Health Department, NOVA Medical School (Faculdade Ciências Médicas), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (NOVA Lisbon University) and UIS-ESSLei-IPLeiria, Portugal.
J Travel Med. 2017 Sep 1;24(6). doi: 10.1093/jtm/tax061.
Psychological health problems are highlighted among the most relevant disease patterns in expatriates. The purpose of this study was to determine the psychological well-being in Portuguese expatriates in Angola and Mozambique, considering the increasing expatriation wave.
A cross-sectional self-administered web survey was conducted in a sample of 352 Portuguese civil expatriates in Angola and Mozambique. Clinically significant psychological distress was determined using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12 and associated factors were studied using multiple logistic regression analysis.
GHQ-12 items showed good internal consistency as reflected by the Cronbach's alpha. One-third of the screened expatriates corresponded to cases of clinically significant psychological distress. Age, country of birth, self-reported psychological symptoms and self-perception of general health in the previous 3 months were identified as independent variables associated with psychological distress.
Increasing awareness and monitoring expatriates mental health should be in the health agenda, furthermore considering them a risk group in need of evidence-based mental health expatriate preparedness. The use of user-friendly validated tools, such as GHQ-12, allowing objective assessment and surveillance of these hard to reach populations should be reinforced.
心理健康问题是外籍人士中最相关的疾病模式之一。本研究旨在确定在安哥拉和莫桑比克的葡萄牙外派人员的心理健康状况，考虑到不断增加的外派浪潮。
对安哥拉和莫桑比克的 352 名葡萄牙文职外派人员进行了横断面自我管理网络调查。使用一般健康问卷（GHQ-12）确定临床显著的心理困扰，并使用多因素逻辑回归分析研究相关因素。
GHQ-12 项目显示出良好的内部一致性，Cronbach's alpha 值为 0.75。筛查出的三分之一外派人员存在临床显著的心理困扰。年龄、出生地、自我报告的心理症状和过去 3 个月的总体健康自我感知被确定为与心理困扰相关的独立变量。
应将提高对外派人员心理健康的认识和监测纳入卫生议程，进一步将他们视为需要基于证据的外派人员心理健康准备的高风险群体。应加强使用用户友好的经过验证的工具，如 GHQ-12，以对外派人员进行客观评估和监测。
