ARTICLE INFO

Article Type

Descriptive & Survey Study

Authors

Moeini   B. (1)
Rezapour Shahkolae   F. (2)
Tapak   L. (3)
Geravandi   A. (4)
Parsamajd   Sh. (*4)






(1) Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
(2) Research Center for Health Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
(3) Modeling of Noncommunicable Disease Research Center, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran
(4) Student Research Committee, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran

Correspondence

Address: Health Faculty, Hamadan University of Medical Science, Shahid Fahmide Boulevard, Hamadan, Iran. Postal Code: 8138380509
Phone: +98 (83) 37275830
Fax: +98 (83) 38380509
shahryar.parsa@yahoo.com

Article History

Received:  August  18, 2019
Accepted:  December 22, 2019
ePublished:  June 20, 2020

BRIEF TEXT


Mental health, happiness, and social capital are important factors in optimal performance, entrepreneurship, reducing anxiety and depression, and increasing collaboration, agreement, intimacy, trust, and job satisfaction.

… [1-8]. Argyle et al. consider happiness as a combination of positive emotion and lack of negative emotions and life satisfaction [9]. Happiness in societies has become a value and forms the basis of the public welfare system in societies [10, 11] and is associated with positive consequences, such as physical and mental health, optimal performance, production and entrepreneurship [12, 13]. Happy people have a longer life, more social cooperation, and a greater sense of happiness at work and a greater ability to solve problems [14, 15]. … [16-22].

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between happiness and mental health with the social capital of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences employees.

This research was a cross-sectional descriptive study.

This study was conducted on 200 employees of the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2019.

A sample size of 200 cases was estimated considering the correlation coefficient of 0.20, the power of 90%, the estimation error of 0.05%, and also the possible attrition of 10% [23] who were randomly selected and entered the study.

Data were collected using General Health Questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28), Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ), and Social Capital questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS 16 software. Descriptive data were analyzed using descriptive statistics methods by independent T-tests, one-way analysis of variance, Pearson correlation coefficient, and multiple linear regression.

The response rate in this study was 100% and all distributed questionnaires were analyzed. The average age of the participants was 40.40 ± 8.18 years. Also, 54.5% of the participants were female, 44.5% had a master's degree, and 76.0% were single. More than half of the participants (58.0%) reported their place of residence as second-degree, 61.5% reported their moderate level of income, and 71.5% reported their family income more than 3 million Tomans. More than half of the cases (57.0%) assessed themselves as totally healthy and 57.5% assessed their level of happiness at a moderate level. Half of the participants (50.0%) were satisfied with their lives (Table 1).According to the obtained mean scores from the OHQ (41.81 ±14.58), the participants benefited from normal happiness. Also, the social capital of 60.5% of the subjects was at a high level, 33.5% at a moderate level, and 6% at a poor level. According to the cutoff point of the GHQ-28, 54.5% of the participants were mentally ill and suspected of having a mental disorder. Mental health, happiness, and social capital were significantly correlated. In other words, mental health had a positive and significant correlation with happiness (r = -0.547) and social capital (r = -0.271), and also there was a positive and significant correlation between happiness and social capital (r = 0.261) (Table 2).Happiness (β = 0.160) and mental health (β = -0.184) also predicted social capital and explained 9.2% (R2 = 0.092) of variance of the social capital (Table 3).There was a significant difference between mean scores of social capital and happiness according to the place of residence of the participants in the study, as well as between the mean score of social capital according to the number of children (p <0.05). Also, the mean scores of social capital, mental health, and happiness in terms of self-assessment of personal health, self-assessment of happiness, and life satisfaction showed significant statistical differences (p <0.05). There was no significant statistical relationship between other demographic variables, social capital, mental health, and happiness (P <0.05; Table 4).

… [23-28]. The results of the present study were consistent with the results of the Montazeri et al. study, in which most Iranians consider their happiness at a moderate level [29]. Also, the results Moeini et al. on happiness among the elderly in Hamadan were consistent with the findings of the present study [30]. In the present study, marital status, age, level of education, income level, and family income did not have a statistically significant relationship with mental health, happiness, and social capital, which is not consistent with the findings of Safari et al. study, in which marital status, age, grade, study field, and academic achievement index of the students of Medical Sciences had a significant correlation with happiness. This may be related to the differences in the target group [31]. … [32-38].

It is suggested that future studies using a qualitative approach explain the reasons for the low level of mental health and the average level of happiness and life satisfaction of employees to provide effective interventions.

One of the limitations of this study was its cross-sectional design and self-reporting method.

The healthier and happier people feel and the more satisfied they are with life, the more they enjoy mental health, happiness, and social capital.

The present study was extracted from a research (ID: 9802241678) financially supported by the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Technology of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

None declared.

The present study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences (IR.UMSHA.REC.1398.127).

The present study was supported by the Vice-Chancellor for Research and Technology of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.

TABLES and CHARTS

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