Association between Stress, Mental Health Status and Health Behaviors with Quality of Life among Working Age of Municipality Offices in Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

The objectives of this cross-sectional research were to study quality of life, stress, mental health status, and health behaviors and how quality of life can be influenced by stress, mental health status, and health behaviors. Samples were 90 personnel in the working age at municipality offices in Ubon Ratchathani province, who were recruited according to the inclusion criteria through simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using stress, mental health status, health behaviors, and quality of life questionnaires. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson’s product moment correlations, and Spearman’s rank correlations. The results showed that the samples’ quality of life was at a moderate level (58.9 percent) while 55.6 percent had a mild level of stress. Everyone (100 percent) showed mental status at a lower level than persons in general. About 61.1 percent reported their health behaviors at a good level. Correlation analysis revealed that stress had a significant negative relationship with quality of life at a low level (r=-0.300, 95%CI=0.09–0.48, p-value=0.005) while mental health status had a significant positive relationship with quality of life at a moderate level (r=0.437, 95%CI=0.25–0.59, p-value<0.001). It is recommended that local administrators should focus on designing proper work to prevent stress and activities to promote mental health of personnel to develop good and sustainable quality of life.