A Study of the Mental Health and Psychological Hardiness of the Staff at the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone in Iran: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Psychological hardiness is a protective personality characteristic against life stresses that plays a major role in improving one's ability to cope with environmental pressures. Objectives: Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the mental health status, psychological hardiness, and the correlation between the two in workers of the Pars special economic energy zone in 2010 with a special emphasis on demographic factors, such as age, sex, marital status, job status, field of action, and job experience. Materials and Methods:This was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted amongst 743 workers of the Pars special economic energy zone. Stratified sampling was carried out. Data were collected using a general health questionnaire, a psychological hardiness scale, and a demographic characteristics questionnaire. Frequency distribution, means and standard deviations (SD) were calculated; Spearman's ρ test, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney U-test for evaluating the correlation between the variables were also used. The cut-off value for statistical significance was set at 0.05 or lower. Results: Findings showed that the mental health score had significant but reverse correlation with psychological hardiness (P = 0.002, r = -0.50). In 44% of the workers, the general health questionnaire score was higher than the cut-off point; the psychological hardiness score in this group of workers was also significantly lower than those with a mental health score below the cut-off point. This study also demonstrated that female gender, a younger age, being single or widowed, being a non-rotational shift worker, and working in the operational units were associated with poorer mental health and a lower psychological hardiness score. Conclusions: Findings of this study showed the importance of psychological hardiness in maintaining mental health. Special attention should be paid to maintaining and improving the mental health of workers in the Pars special economic energy zone. One of the main principles involved in the sustainable and integrated development of a company is healthy human resources in all aspects, including physical, mental, and social health. Therefore, the current situation necessitates designing evidence-based interventions focusing on vulnerable subgroups.

The Relationship Between Psychological Hardiness and Social Support in Women With Breast Cancer

“…The result of this study showed a significant relationship between psychological hardiness and perceived social support, which prevents psychological distress to deal with stress among women with breast cancer. It means that the higher the level of perceived social support, the higher the psychological hardiness of women with breast cancer, which was consistent with several other studies [10][11][12][13][14][15], and no study was found inconsistent with this finding. Abdollahi et al showed the significance of hardiness in decreasing perceived stress impacts on hope and reported its clinical implications for health practitioners [15].…”

“…These individuals' hardiness likely results from the perception of life changes as less stressful or having a higher capacity to cope with life changes. Several studies have indicated that psychological hardiness and social support are significant psychosocial factors for illness recovery [13][14][15][16][17][18].…”

“…There was a significant but inverse correlation between psychological hardiness and mental health score. Psychological hardiness as an internal resistance resource reduces the detrimental effects of stress and prevents the improvement of physical and psychological disorders [14]. Kakpour and Teymouri found that hardy women are more likely to attend treatment sessions than others [25,26].…”

“…Psychological hardiness consists of three basic interrelated hypothetical components. Hardy people are easily committed to their lives, believe that they have some control over the causes and solutions of life obstacles, and view changes in life and adaptive requests as challenges and chances for development rather than menaces [14].…”