Factors Associated with Depressive Symptoms Among Public Enterprise Employees
Seong-Joon Kim , MD, Bo-Hyun Yoon , MD, PhD, Hangoeunbi Kang , MD, Young-Hwa Sea , MD, Suhee Park , MD, Jye-Heon Song , MD, Kyungmin Kim , MD, Ha-Ran Jung , MD, Yuran Jeong , MD, Hyunju Yun , MD, Jaegil Jo , MD
Department of Psychiatry, Naju National Hospital, Naju, Korea
Correspondence to: Hangoeunbi Kang, MD Department of Psychiatry, Naju National Hospital, 1328-31 Senam-ro, Sanpo-myeon, Naju 58213, Korea TEL +82-61-330-4101 FAX +82-61-330-5150 E-mail zlenenr@hanmail.net ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7106-2757
Received: October 31, 2024; Accepted: November 5, 2024; Published online: November 30, 2024.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
Background: Employees with depression have complex and serious health consequences, not only for them, including reduced quality of life, but also for businesses and society, leading to social costs such as reduced productivity. This study investigated the prevalence of depressive symptoms and related factors among public enterprise employees in Naju Innovation City, Korea. Methods: We investigated the sociodemographic and psychosocial characteristics of 1,061 public enterprise employees. Depression, anxiety, and occupational burnout were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, and Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, respectively. Furthermore, the impact of factors on depressive symptoms was examined using a logistic regression model. Results: The prevalence of overall depressive symptoms was 11.9%. High anxiety (odds ratio [OR]=12.19; 95% confidence interval [CI]=7.17-20.76; p<0.001) and exhaustion (OR=2.79; 95% CI=1.81-4.40; p<0.001) levels were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Conclusion: Anxiety symptoms and exhaustion were the most important factors related to depressive symptoms among the public enterprise employees. Hence, when providing an employee assistance program, the psychosocial vulnerability factors of workers with depressive symptoms should be thoroughly addressed.
, MD, Bo-Hyun Yoon 
