Mental health, social skills, and associated factors of flight attendants in a commercial airline in Thailand

Abstract

Background: Mounting evidence has shown that most flight attendants have an average mental health and mental health problems such as stress, fatigue, and sleep problems. However, there were limited studies concerning their social skills and associated factors. This study identified the flight attendants’ mental health, associated factors with the mental health of flight attendants in Thai Airways International Public Company Limited.

Objective: To explore the mental health, social skills, and associated factors of flight attendants in Thai Airways International Public Company Limited.

Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed with the participation of 408 flight attendants of Thai Airways International Public Company Limited. The questionnaires were composed of: 1) demographic data form; 2) General Health Questionnaire-30 (GHQ-30) Thai version; 3) Work Happiness Questionnaire; 4) Social Skill Questionnaire; 5) Social Support Questionnaire; and, 6) 1-Year Life Stress Event Questionnaire. The association between the flight attendants’ mental health and the associated factors were analyzed by Chi-square test. The logistic regression was used to identify the predictors of the flight attendants’ normal mental health.

Results: Most flight attendants (76.2%) had normal mental health. The average score of mental health was 2.5 3.4. Most of them (46.8%) had moderate-to-high level of social skills. Factors associated with normal mental health were age of 40 years and lower, very low-to-low low social skills, moderate-to-high level of work happiness, high tangible social support, and mild 1-year life stress events. The predictors of flight attendants’ normal mental health was age of 40 years and lower, and high tangible social support.

Conclusion: Most flight attendants of Thai Airways International Company Limited had normal mental health and moderate-to-high level of social skills. Age of 40 years and lower, and high tangible social support were highly associated with normal mental health of their flight attendants.