Background: In China, there are many studies focusing on the willingness of general practitioners and special medical personnel to work. However, there is a lack of studies on the working willingness of mental illness prevention and control staff.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. In this study we selected mental illness prevention and control personnel in the grassroots health service institutions in Hunan Province, China as our subjects. The χ2 test and binary logistic regression analysis were used to explore their work willingness and related influencing factors.
Results: The work willingness of mental illness prevention and control staff of grassroots institutions in China was 55.6% (502/903). The influencing factors were age (odds ratio [OR] 0.753 [95% confidence interval {CI} 0.638 to 0.888]), educational background (OR 1.342 [95% CI 1.092 to 1.648]) and major (OR 1.083 [95% CI 1.009 to 1.162]).
Conclusions: The work willingness of the mental illness prevention and control staff of grassroots institutions in China was at a low level. The job of preventing and controlling mental illness in grassroots areas needs the competence of workers with strong specialty and professional competence and workers who are willing to work in these communities. Work willingness is the result of multiple factors, especially healthcare investments.
Keywords: China; grassroots health worker; mental illness prevention and control personnel; work willingness.
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.