Work-related factors of mental health among Chicago residents two years into the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread consequences for economic, social, and general wellbeing with rates of anxiety and depression increasing across the population and disproportionately for some workers. This study explored which factors were the most salient contributors to mental health through a cross-sectional 68-item questionnaire that addressed topics related to the pandemic. Data were collected through an address-based sampling frame over the two months from April 2022 to June 2022. A total of 2,049 completed surveys were collected throughout Chicago’s 77 Community Areas. Descriptive statistics including frequency and percentages were generated to describe workplace characteristics, work-related stress, and sample demographics and their relationship to psychological distress. Independent participant and workplace factors associated with the outcomes were identified using multivariable logistic regression. The weighted prevalence of persons experiencing some form of psychological distress from mild to serious was 32%. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, certain marginalized communities experienced psychological distress more than others including females, adults over the age of 25 years of age, and people with higher income levels. Those who had been laid off, lost pay, or had reduced hours had increased odds of psychological distress (aOR = 1.71, CI_95% 1.14–2.56; p = 0.009) as did people that reported that their work-related stress was somewhat or much worse as compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic (aOR = 2.22, CI_95% 1.02–4.82; p = 0.04, aOR = 11.0, CI_95% 4.65–26.1; p < 0.001, respectively). These results warrant further investigation and consideration in developing workplace and mental health interventions.

Keywords:

• Chicago
• COVID-19
• psychological distress
• work-related factors

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Emily LaFlamme and Brittney Lange-Maia for their contributions to the development of the COVID-19 Social Impact Survey and Dan Schober for his guidance on analysis and manuscript preparation.

Disclosure statement

Several affiliated coauthors affiliated with CDPH collaborated on the study design, data analysis, and writing of this report. The views and opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and should not be construed to represent the views of CDPH.

The authors of this paper have no financial disclosures or conflict of interest to report.

Data availability statement

The participants of this study did not give written consent for their data to be shared publicly, so due to the sensitive nature of the research supporting data is not available.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Chicago Department of Public Health (2022 Healthy Chicago Survey COVID-19 Social Impact Survey, contract no. 134604).