Department of Psychiatry, University of Helsinki and Acute Psychiatry and Consultations, HUS Helsinki University Hospital, 00029 Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Aug 20;19(16):10381. doi: 10.3390/ijerph191610381.
Despite the vast annual number of international visitors to the tropics, surprisingly little data are available on the psychological well-being associated with the travels or with travelers’ diarrhoea (TD). We herein recruited participants of a vaccination trial, OEV-123, before their 12-day holiday in Benin, West Africa. We assessed the travelers’ psychological distress with a general health questionnaire (GHQ-12) and retrieved data on TD from the trial database. The GHQ-12 was completed before (wave 0), at return (wave 1), and 1-month after (wave 2) the trip. Of the 174 participants, 73% were women, with a mean age 40 years. Moreover, 24% reported psychological distress before traveling, 10% immediately after, and 16% 1-month after the trip (GHQ-12, 3 or more; 0−12 scoring). The findings showed that psychological well-being increased after the tropical holiday. The GHQ-12 middle wave sum score differed from the wave 0 (p < 0.001) and wave 2 (p = 0.008) sum scores, with travelers reporting highest levels of well-being on their return, with evidence of a lasting improvement. TD was experienced by 71%, and it had a negative impact on psychological well-being only if experienced after travel.
尽管每年有大量的国际游客前往热带地区，但与旅行或旅行者腹泻（TD）相关的心理健康数据却少得惊人。我们在此招募了参加疫苗接种试验（OEV-123）的参与者，他们将在西非贝宁进行为期 12 天的度假。我们使用一般健康问卷（GHQ-12）评估旅行者的心理困扰，并从试验数据库中检索 TD 数据。GHQ-12 在旅行前（第 0 波）、旅行后返回时（第 1 波）和旅行后 1 个月（第 2 波）进行了评估。在 174 名参与者中，73%为女性，平均年龄为 40 岁。此外，24%的人在旅行前报告有心理困扰，10%的人在旅行后立即报告有心理困扰，16%的人在旅行后 1 个月报告有心理困扰（GHQ-12，3 分或以上；0-12 分评分）。研究结果表明，心理健康在热带假期后有所改善。GHQ-12 中间波总和评分与第 0 波（p < 0.001）和第 2 波（p = 0.008）总和评分不同，旅行者在返回时报告的幸福感最高，且有持续改善的迹象。71%的人经历了 TD，只有在旅行后经历 TD 才会对心理健康产生负面影响。
