The general health questionaire (GHQ-12) in a sample of italian workers: mental health at individual and organizational level

Abstract

The current study aims at measuring mental health in a sample of Italian workers as to evaluate the usability of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), both at individual and organizational levels. Indeed, working in unhealthy organizations appears to be particularly risky for workers. A database was built from data collected through a survey of workers in Italian industrial and public firms. The final sample comprised 2,707 employees from 55 Italian organizations. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted in which different competing models were tested. In addition, we measured the degrees of mental health both at individual and organizational levels by using a two-step cluster analysis. The findings of this study indicate that the GHQ has potential not only for measuring mental health at individual level but also at organizational level. In addition, demographic data was associated with mental health and appeared useful for epidemiological purposes. Finally, the use of a two-step cluster analysis illustrates the conceptualization of different degrees of mental health problems. These findings have some important theoretical implications for mental health promotion and also offer several opportunities for more in-depth research. Furthermore, these findings have the potential to help organizations prevent mental health problems at individual and organizational levels concurrently.