Occupational stress and mental health of cardiac and noncardiac patients

BACKGROUND: Much of the research studies have shown that occupational stress is one of the strong determinant factors of coronary heart diseases among people in general. However, exploring the extent to which the type or nature of ailments and its subsequent risk factors have an effect on the onset of mental health will help evolve suitable preventive measures. The present study attempts to explore the status of mental health and occupational stress with respect to 2 categories of patients: Those who are suffering from cardiac problems and those suffering from noncardiac health problems. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Occupational Stress Questionnaire and Mental Health Questionnaire were administered to both cardiac and noncardiac patients. The cardiac group consisted of 40 patients who were being treated at the cardiology department of a reputed hospital, and noncardiac group (40 patients) consisted of outpatients of the same hospital being treated for noncardiac problems like knee pain, headache, etc. Responses to these self-reported questionnaires were subjected to statistical analysis to find out the difference between cardiac and noncardiac groups. RESULTS: The results revealed that cardiac patients tend to have lower levels of mental health than noncardiac patients. Similarly, cardiac patients were reported to have higher levels of stress due to role ambiguity, powerlessness, intrinsic impoverishment and unprofitability. CONCLUSIONS: The implications of the study were implementation of interventions to improve the internal strength of cardiac patients to overcome various aspects of occupational stress.