Occupational stress, anxiety, and depression among grassroots disease control and prevention staff in Hebei Province: A qualitative comparative analysis based on fuzzy sets

Background Grassroots center for disease control and prevention (CDC) staff undertake intensive work of disease prevention and control, and may be susceptible to occupational stress, anxiety, depression, and other health problems.

Objective To understand the current situation of occupational stress, anxiety, and depression among grassroots CDC staff, and to identify potential risk factor configurations for occupational stress, anxiety, and depression using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), so as to provide a basis for effective intervention.

Methods The staff working in county/district-level CDCs in Hebei Province were the target population of the current study. Stratified random cluster sampling method was used to select 1860 staff members of the target population. A questionnaire of general situation, Job Content Scale, 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 were used. Risk factor configurations associated with health outcomes of interest were identified by fsQCA3.0 software.

Results The positive rates of occupational stress, anxiety, and depression were 42.69%, 44.25%, and 47.96%, respectively. Marital status was a necessary condition for occupational stress, anxiety, and depression in the grassroots CDC staff (the necessity values were 0.911, 0.939, and 0.933, respectively). There were two types of risk factor configurations for occupational stress: "self-improvement" and "disease burden"; the risk factor configurations for anxiety were "disease burden" and "economic-disease burden"; while the risk factor configurations for depression were "disease burden", "economic-disease burden", and "self-improvement". The overall consistency scores of occupational stress, anxiety, and depression were 0.941, 0.820, and 0.774, respectively. Regarding outstanding components, "self-improvement" included pressure of job requirements and promotion, "disease burden" included impact of chronic illness on psychological state, and "economic-disease burden" included not only impact of chronic illness but also financial support for CDC staff.

Conclusion All positive rates of occupational stress, anxiety, and depression are high among grassroots CDC staff in Hebei Province. Occupational stress, anxiety, and depression of grassroots CDC staff are the results of multiple influencing factors, so targeted intervention measures should be formulated.