Mental Well-Being during COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Study of Fly-In Fly-Out Workers in the Mining Industry in Australia

Bernard Yeboah-Asiamah Asare,Dominika Kwasnicka,Paul Brown,Matthew Pilbeam,Suzanne Robinson,Chris Ellison,Chris Harris,Christopher M Reid,Jacquita S Affandi,Daniel Powell,Elizabeth Thomas,Myles Schammer

doi:10.3390/ijerph182212264

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has devastated the world, and its mental health impact has been recognized in the general population. However, little is known about the mental health impact of COVID-19 on fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers, who are flown to temporarily stay and work in remote areas, during this pandemic. This study examined the mental well-being of FIFO workers in the mining industry during COVID-19 restrictions in Western Australia. An online survey was conducted between May to November 2020 among (N = 842) FIFO workers who underwent COVID-19 screening at a large mining company in Western Australia. The mental well-being score among workers was higher than population norms. One-way ANOVA with Bonferroni post-hoc tests showed significant differences in mental well-being by age, being placed under travel quarantine, undertaking self-isolation, impact of social distance guidelines, and experience of COVID-19 related symptoms. Multiple linear regression analysis showed workers who were younger, placed under travel quarantine and experienced two or more COVID-19 related symptoms were more likely to have worse mental well-being. Acknowledging the negative emotions and distress experiences among the vulnerable groups could help in providing suitable support to help lessen these negative experiences in FIFO workers.

Highlights

IntroductionCoronavirus disease (COVID-19) has devastated lives and economies around the world; since its detection in December 2019 [1]
One thousand two hundred (1200) fly-in fly-out (FIFO) workers responded to the survey; out of which 358 were excluded due to missing data and a final sample of 842 was included in the study
FIFO workers were able to cope with the disruption and stress of COVID-19 related measures, the differences observed could reflect the disparities in measurements, the periods at which studies were conducted and the samples as the current sample were mostly men who are generally less likely to experience internalized disorders including depression and anxiety, except for externalize disorders including aggression [53]

Summary

Introduction

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has devastated lives and economies around the world; since its detection in December 2019 [1]. In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a pandemic having infected over 118,000 people and caused 4291 deaths in 114 countries [2]. As of 4 October 2021, there were. 234,609,003 established COVID-19 cases, and 4,797,368 lives lost around the world [3]. In January 2020, Australia recorded its first COVID-19 case [4], and has recorded

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