People who work in the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and the media have a higher prevalence of frequent mental distress than those in other fields, according to a study published in JAMA Network Open.
Aaron L. Sussell, Ph.D., of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and colleagues analyzed data from the 2015 through 2019 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) surveys, which included an optional module on industry and occupation. Their sample included 536,279 employed individuals, among whom 469,126 reported their industry or occupation.
The researchers looked at three key measures of mental health among the participants:
- Lifetime depression, defined as a positive response to the BRFSS question “Has a doctor, nurse, or other health professional ever told you that you have a depressive disorder (including depression, major depression, dysthymia, or minor depression)?”
- Mentally unhealthy days (MUD), based on responses to the BRFSS question “Now thinking about your mental health, which includes stress, depression, and problems with emotions, for how many days during the past 30 days was your mental health not good?”
- Frequent mental distress, defined as a MUD score of 14 or higher.
Overall, 14.2% of participants reported lifetime depression and 9.6% reported frequent mental distress.
To calculate adjusted prevalence ratios for frequent mental distress among various occupations, the researchers chose workers in transportation and material moving as a reference group. The median lifetime depression prevalence in this group is near the median of the occupational groups in the study.
Compared with workers in the reference group, workers in the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media had 1.32 times the prevalence of frequent mental distress. Workers in food preparation and serving (1.20 times), health care support (1.19 times), and sales and related occupations (1.13 times) also had statistically higher prevalence of frequent mental distress compared with the reference group. Workers in community and social services had the highest adjusted prevalence of depression compared with the reference group (1.47 times), followed by workers in the arts, design, entertainment, sports, and media (1.34 times).
“Workplaces can play a role in identifying and reducing psychosocial hazards and promoting workers’ mental health,” the researchers wrote. “More research is needed to evaluate work-related factors and workplace intervention effectiveness.”
For related information, see the Psychiatric News article “New Instrument Developed to Assess Workplace Depression.”
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