Predicting Mental Health Based on Social Capital and Organizational Citizenship Behavior in Female Nurses

Background: Mental health is an essential requirement for any profession, especially nursing and plays an important role in improving positive psychological characteristics. Some variables related to mental health can be social capital and organizational citizenship behavior. Thus, the aim of this study was the   prediction of mental health based on social capital and organizational citizenship behavior in female nurses. Methods: This correlational cross-sectional study was carried out on 180 female nurses, selected via simple random sampling, of state hospital in the west of Mazandaran province, 2017.  The questionnaires were short form of mental symptoms, social capital and organizational citizenship behavior. Data was analyzed by SPSS-19 software using Pearson correlation and multivariate regression with enter model methods (p≤0.01). Results: The average age of the participants was 35.94±4.36 years, most of them (90.56%) married and undergraduate education (80.56%). The results showed that social capital (r=-0/381) and organizational citizenship behavior (r=-0/456) have a negative and significant relationship with mental health in female nurses. Given that the high score in mental health questionnaire means low mental health, mental health in female nurses enhances by increasing social capital and organizational citizenship behavior.  In addition, both social capital and organizational citizenship behavior variables could predict 25.4 percent of variance of mental health in female nurses and the share of organizational citizenship behavior was higher than social capital (p≤0.01). Conclusion: The results verified the role of social capital and organizational citizenship behavior in predicting mental health of nurses. Thus, officials should pay attention to the indications of social capital and organizational citizenship behavior to design and implement appropriate programs to improve the mental health of nurses.