A typology of mental health comorbidity in workplaces: results from the SALVEO study

Objectives The aim of this study consists in describing the nature of mental health comorbidity among workers. Precisely, we seek to examine the presence of concomitant associations between burnout (cynicism, emotional exhaustion, professionnal inefficacy) and psychoactive substance use (heavy episodic drinking, above low-risk drinking guidelines, and psychotropic drug use).Methods The SALVEO study is based on a cross-sectional sample of 1966 workers from the province of Québec, Canada. Latent class analyses were performed in order to identify typical patterns corresponding to distinct forms of mental health comorbidity in the data. Multinomial logistic regressions on latent classes were performed using covariables pertaining to work and non-work domains and workers' individual characteristics.Results Four typical patterns in mental health comorbidity were found: 1- "Severe burnout and psychotropic drug use"; 2- "At risk drinking and cynicism"; 3- "Emotional exhaustion and professional inefficacy"; and 4- "Relatively healthy state". Of all four patterns, the "Severe burnout and psychotropic drug use" pattern presented the highest number of cumulative risks (environmental and individual).Conclusion Comorbidity in mental health is a matter of importance in workplaces from the province of Québec. The severity in the different patterns of mental health comorbidity expressed a cumulative effect of risk factors from the work and non-work domains, as well as individual characteristics.