Psychological distress as a predictor of quality of life among selected Filipino school personnel

Abstract

This study examined the possible relationship and predictive impact of psychological distress on the quality of life among school personnel. 112 personnel employed in a private school in Caloocan City, Philippines, who participated in the study and completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21) and World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) survey. The occurrence of severe to extremely severe level of depression, anxiety, and stress were 28.58, 17.85, and 8.93%, respectively, thus the school personnel obtained a satisfied rating in all the domains of quality of life. Correlations between the quality of life dimensions and psychological distress facets are significant at the 0.05 level of significance except for the correlation between social mean score and total anxiety score. The respondents in terms of their gender experienced the same level of psychological distress and quality of life while single employees appeared to have higher levels of depression and stress symptoms compared to married ones. Furthermore, a regression analysis demonstrated that a significant variance of 44.7% (psychological), 40.2% (physical), 8.9% (social), and 26.9% (environmental) factors of quality of life can be accounted for by psychological distress. In addition, depression and stress symptoms are found to be significant predictors of psychological and physical health, while stress is a significant predictor of social relationships and environmental domain. Therefore, the results highlight the implications for an intervention program in relieving the psychological distress and improving the quality of life among school personnel. Key words: Depression, anxiety, stress, quality of life.