Women Are More at Risk of Poor Mental Health: Mental Health of Spanish Nurses Measured by the GHQ-12

Abstract

Background: Mental health is one of the principal indicators of people's quality of life. One of the professions most commonly associated with mental health problems is nursing. Objectives: We analyzed mental health in a group of female and male nurses from a hospital in Madrid (Spain) to evaluate whether differences exist between the groups. Furthermore, there is an analysis regarding whether the variables affecting mental health in female nurses are different from those affecting male nurses. Patients and Methods:The research is non-experimental, observational, with a cross sectional and descriptive analysis. The GHQ-12 instrument was chosen for the analysis of mental health in male and female nurses. The GHQ-12 has been validated in the Spanish population. Results: Male and female professional nurses scored worse in mental health than the population as a whole. Female nurses had worse scores than male nurses. Mental health in male nurses is related to age, self-perceived health, stress at work, and job satisfaction. The variables related to mental health in female nurses are stress at work and rest/sleep. Conclusions: The variables explaining the state of mental health in female and male nurses are different. The only variable in both regression equations is stress at work, and even then it has different magnitudes for male and female nurses. An awareness of possible quantitative and qualitative differences in the mental health of male and female nurses will contribute to the optimal design of more efficient, evidence-based treatments geared to improving the health of these professionals.

Relationship Between Work Engagement, Psychosocial Risks, and Mental Health Among Spanish Nurses: A Cross-Sectional Study

“…For example, in the study by Portero et al ( 38 ) conducted on 235 HES practicians and nurses from four Andalusian hospitals (southern Spain), 32.3% of professionals were found to have impaired mental health. Likewise, in another study carried out in a tertiary hospital in Madrid (central Spain), the differences are even more pronounced ( 39 ). In the present study, means of 3.73 (SD = 3.67) are found for the total sample in the GHQ-12, and it is striking that similar scores (3.96 [SD = 3.27]) were found in a study conducted on Japanese nurses following an earthquake in Japan in 2017 ( 40 ), unlike other studies such as that conducted by Sánchez-López et al ( 41 ), which compares mental health between female and male nurses obtaining mean scores of 2.28 (SD = 2.81) and 1.61 (SD = 2.45), respectively.…”

“…As in the general Spanish population, women refer to some mental health problems more often than men, 14.1 vs. 7.2%, figures below those found in the present study (42). This fact shows that Spanish nurses may have an increased risk of mental health problems, as compared to the general Spanish population (39). In addition, there are variables that can increase this risk such as being a woman, young (31), having a mediocre or poor perception of health, having low work commitment (34), and working in services with a high level of stress, as is the case of emergency services.…”

Questionnaires Assessing Adolescents’ Self-Concept, Self-Perception, Physical Activity and Lifestyle: A Systematic Review

“…The 67 studies and four official documents were included in this review, these studies have been included and detailed in Table S1 [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , ...…”

“…The selected studies investigated with questionnaires to assess self-concept [ 2 , 6 , 8 , 10 , 12 , 16 , 27 , 35 , 37 , 38 , 56 , 64 , 65 , 67 , 70 , 71 ], self-perception [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 7 , 8 , 11 , 13 , 14 , 26 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 34 , 36 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 57 , 60 , 66 , 68 , 69 ], physical activity [ 2 , 9…”

The Perceived Risk of Being Infected With COVID-19 at Work, Communication, and Employee Health: A Longitudinal Application of the Job Demands-Resources Model

“…Conversely, psychophysical strain may be negatively associated with age, possibly because older employees have higher levels of resilience or they develop coping skills with age or experience [43,44]. Interestingly, the relationship between age and psychophysical strain might differ across gender [42,45]. Finally, with respect to the type of contract, past research has shown an association between temporary employment and psychophysical strain, although with some differences across studies [46][47][48][49].…”