Abstract

Our study was designed to identify the difference in the mental health status among hospitalized patients due to occupational diseases and accidents and pre-employment physical examinees, and to identify the relationship between mental health status and socio-demographic variables, and to provide information useful to non-psychiatric clinicians in caring of such patients. Samples were comprised of 189 pneumoconiotic patients, 132 industrial accident-induced patients and 122 pre-employment physical examinees who were interviewed with 90-item symptom cheklist(SCL-90). The following results were obtained: 1) Mean scores of symptom dimension on socio-demographic subgroup showed higher tendencies in older aged, male, lower educated, miner, married, mining residence, and pnemoconiotic patients. 2) Mean scores of total samples on all symptom dimensions were as follows in the order of their magnitudes; Depression, Somatization, Obsessive-compulsive, Anxiety, Psychoticism, Interpersonal sensitivity, Phobic-anxiety, Hostility, and Paranoid ideation. 3) The highest mean scores on each socio-demographic subgroup were as follows; Depression in younger aged and Somatization in older aged; Depression in male Somatization in female; Somatization in lower educated and depression in higher educated; Somatization in miners and depression in non-miners; Somatization in married and Depression in unmarried; Depression in all kind of residences; Somatization in patients and Depression in pre-employment physical examinees(normal). 4) In consequence of stepwise multiple regression, the important socio-demographic variables were age, occupation, diagnostic classification, and residence. Age was the most important variables in Somatization, Depression, Obsessive-compulsive, Anxiety, Phobic ideation, and Psychoticism. Occupation was the most important one in Interpersonal sensitivity and Hostility and also had significant relationships with all symptom dimensions.