A Research On Mental Health Status And Influencing Factors Of Public Health Aid Members In Sierra Leone

Objective:To understand the mental health status of public health aid members in Sierra Leone and its relevant influencing factors in order to provide theoretical basis for the pre-departure training and control strategies and measures of psychological intervention.Methods:From June of 2018 to January of 2019,all the third to fifth batches of members from the Second Phase of the Fixed Biological Safety Laboratory Technical Cooperation Project in Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention totaling 31 individuals were tested by Symptom Check List 90(SCL-90),general information forms and influencing factors forms before one month of departure,at three and six months in Sierra Leone,and at one month after return respectively.Based on the literature research and the principle of information saturation,19 members were selected via purposive sampling to conduct semi-structured in-depth interviews.Claizzi’s seven-step analysis method was used for data collation.Excel 2013,SPSS24.0,SAS 9.4 statistical software were used for analysis and drawing.Results:1.The information of 31 public health aid members is gathered,whose average age is 37.97±6.33 years old.71.4%(23/31)are male and 28.6%(8/31)are female;93.5%(29/31)have intermediate professional titles or above;96.8%(30/31)earned the master degree or above;2.Quantitative research shows that the mean value of the SCL-90 total score and factor score rise after the team departs for the Sierra Leone,peaks at 3 months,and then falls,showing a trend of low-high-low.A total of 10 persons and 18 Person-time had positive results of SCL-90 in the four investigations,the positive rates of SCL-90 were 9.68%,19.35%,16.13%and 12.90%respectively.3.The difference in the awareness rates of the 4 infectious diseases among 31 public health aid members was statistically significant(P<0.05),the awareness rate of Malaria、Cholera、Typhoid Fever and Ebola was 80.65%(250/310)、66.13%(205/310)、70.32%(218/310)and 69.35%(215/310).66.7%(6/9)of the SCL-90 positive members had an awareness rate of infectious diseases lower than 80%.4.51.6%of the members believe that psychological fluctuations are likely to occur in the middle and late stages of foreign aid;the top three potential influencing factors for mental health are part-time job(8/19),work environment changes(7/19)and living environment changes(6/19).5.Most of the interviewees(12/19)suggested to adjust the methods and contents of Foreign aid based on African development goals and actual needs.Conclusions:Pbulic health aid members have certain mental health problems.The mental health status of the members is mainly affected by environmental changes,knowledge of infectious diseases,and part-time job.Therefore,interventions should be taken to improve the mental health of public health aid members.Public health aid work needs to be reformed and innovated according to the actual needs of Africa.