Suicides in a mega-size factory in China: poor mental health among young migrant workers in China

Lau, Joseph; Yu, Cheng Bo; Gu, Jing; Zhou, Runan; Chen, Yu; Holroyd, Eleanor; Yeung, Nelson C. Y.

doi:10.1136/oemed-2011-100593

Cited by 37 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…This prevalence was significantly higher than that in other settings such as the United States (2.6%) [37] and Korea (2.8%) [38]. Prior literature revealed that industrial workers were particularly vulnerable populations to depression and other mental health disorders given their low education and income, highly repetitive work, and constrained social support [6,39]. As mental problems significantly impact workforces' productivity [3], this finding raises the urgent need for regular mental health screening and interventions to improve the health and performance of industrial workers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

“…In the workplace, depression is more common than other mental disorders, and a major cause of reduced productivity, elevated absenteeism and presenteeism, and diminished job retention [3]. Moreover, depressive disorders increase the risk of accidents at work, which results in impaired health conditions, reduced quality of life, suicidal ideation, as well as an additional cost to healthcare and other related problems [3][4][5][6]. It is estimated that a total of depression-attributable costs in the United States is US$36.6 billion per year [7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health Service Use of Industrial Workers: Evidence from Vietnam

Ngoc¹,

Nguyen²,

Nguyen³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Background: Depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation substantially reduce industrial workers' productivity and performance. This study was performed to examine the prevalence of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation and identify associated factors among industrial workers in different provinces of Vietnam. Materials and Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study in industrial zones of four provinces of Vietnam. The Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) was employed to screen depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to determine factors related to depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Results: Of 1200 industrial workers, 30.5% and 33.6% industrial workers had positive depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation in the last two weeks, respectively. There were 38.3% ever using mental health services in the last 12 months. High school education (OR = 0.64, 95% CI = 0.44-0.95); living in dormitory (OR = 3.07, 95% CI = 1.51-6.24), living with siblings (OR = 2.98; 95% CI = 1.32-6.75), Int.having two children or more (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.03-2.03), high years of experience (OR = 0.94; 95% CI = 0.89-0.98), suffering from burnout, alcohol use disorder (OR = 2.38; 95% CI = 1.72-3.28), and smoking status (OR = 0.38, 95% CI = 0.23-0.61) were associated with positive depressive symptoms. Living with children, working in mechanical/metallurgy/electronics factories, completely exhausted and often thinking of quitting, and alcohol use disorder were positively related to suicidal ideation. Conclusions: This study found a high prevalence of depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation among industrial workers in Vietnam. Regular screening and detecting high-risk groups, along with interventions to reduce health risk behaviors, burnout and on-site medical service quality improvement, are recommended to alleviate the burden of depression in industrial workers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 80%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health Service Use of Industrial Workers: Evidence from Vietnam

Ngoc¹,

Nguyen²,

Nguyen³

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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“…Factory workers in China often increase their income by working overtime. Lau and colleagues found that high work demands combined with a lack of autonomy in decision-making can cause stress; work is often very repetitive, mechanical and without regular training courses, all elements that do not help migrant workers to successfully pursue a new life [26].…”

Section: Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migrant Workers and Psychological Health: A Systematic Review

et al. 2019

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Migrant workers show an increase in the incidence of serious, psychotic, anxiety, and post-traumatic disorders due to a series of socio-environmental variables, such as loss of social status, discrimination, and separations from the family. The purpose is to elaborate a systematic review and highlight the prevailing psychological pathologies of these workers and categories most at risk. Our research included articles published from 2009 to 2019 on the major databases (Pub Med, Cochrane Library, and Scopus) using a combination of some keywords. The online search indicated 1.228 references. Using inclusion and exclusion criteria, we analyzed 127 articles, in particular 12 reviews and 115 original articles. Principal emerging disorders from the research are depressive syndrome (poor concentration at work, feeling down, or anger and somatization), anxiety, alcohol or substance abuse, and poor sleep quality. This causes low life conditions, which is also due to marginalization from the social context and strenuous work; in fact, migrant workers may suffer verbal or physical abuse, and they are often employed in dangerous, unhealthy jobs. It is therefore essential to increase the role of occupational medicine and promote wellbeing for this vulnerable job category.

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“…In this context, both popular media and published studies have expressed concerns about the burdens on mental health, including suicide, that confront MWs [2–6]. A body of literature suggests that migration is associated with an increased risk for poor mental health [7–11] and suicidal behaviors [12–14] in other parts of the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Internal migration, mental health, and suicidal behaviors in young rural Chinese

Dai

Zhong

Xiang

et al. 2014

Soc Psychiatry Psychiatr Epidemiol

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Purpose There is a dearth of data on the association of internal migration with mental health in young rural Chinese. This study aims to explore the associations between migrant status, mental health, and suicidal behaviors in young rural Chinese. Methods We recruited 1,646 rural subjects aged 16–34 years, of whom 756 were migrant workers and 890 non-migrants, from ten representative villages in rural Sichuan Province, the southwestern part of China. To assess subject's depressive symptoms and general psychological quality of life (psycho-QOL), the study protocol included the Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and psycho-QOL subscale of the World Health Organization's QOL Questionnaire-Brief Version, in addition to structured questions regarding one-year suicidal thoughts and behaviors (serious ideation, plan, and attempt), socio-demographic, social support, and physical health information. Results After adjustment for confounders, migrant workers had relative to non-migrant rural residents a decreased risk for depression (OR = 0.69, P = 0.026), but comparable risk for poor psycho-QOL (OR = 0.91, P = 0.557) and one-year suicidal behaviors (OR = 0.59–1.10, P = 0.19–0.90). Migrant status only accounted for 0.5, 2.8, 4.7, 9.8, and 12.6 % of the total explainable variance for suicide attempt, poor psycho-QOL, suicide plan, depression and serious suicide ideation, respectively. Conclusion Our findings suggested that among young rural Chinese there were no significant associations involving migrant status and poor psycho-QOL or one-year suicidal behaviors, while migrant status significantly correlated with a decreased risk of depression. The unique contribution of migrant status to mental health among young rural Chinese participants in this study was very small.

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Suicides in a mega-size factory in China: poor mental health among young migrant workers in China

Cited by 37 publications

References 3 publications

Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health Service Use of Industrial Workers: Evidence from Vietnam

Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Mental Health Service Use of Industrial Workers: Evidence from Vietnam

Migrant Workers and Psychological Health: A Systematic Review

Internal migration, mental health, and suicidal behaviors in young rural Chinese

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