Baseline characteristics
Based on the sample estimation methods that the number of observations at least 10 times the number of variables in the multivariate analysis[11], there are 35 independent variables in the study. Considering the 10% invalid questionnaire rate, no less than 385 samples should be required. In fact, 433 questionnaires were collected, and 19 people (under 18 years old and the subjects were not in Laos) were excluded according to the inclusion criteria. There were 414 valid questionnaires with an effective rate of 95.6%.
Demographic characteristics
The main age of the population in this survey was 18-58 (32.43±8.798): 209 people (50.5%) were 18-30, 115 people (27.8%) were 31-40, 79 people (19.1%) were 41-50 and 11 people (2.7%) were >50. Gender: 100 females (24.2%) and 314 males (75.8%); Education level: 100 (24.2%) were in senior high school or below, 107 (25.8%) were in junior college, 186 (44.9%) were in university and 21 (5.1%) were in postgraduate or above. Occupations: 101 were administrative personnel (24.4%), 97 were professional technical personnel (23.4%), 83 were workers (20.0%), 16 were sales and service personnel (3.9%), 25 were international students (6.0%), 18 were private owners (4.3%) and 74 were other occupations (17.8%); Marital status: 224 were married (54.1%) and 190 were unmarried (45.9%).
Demographic characteristics show that the majority were young men under the age of 30, generally higher level of education, and their occupations are mainly administrative personnel, professional technical personnel and workers, etc. Their occupations are relatively dispersed, without concentration or deviation from a certain occupation.
Relevant situation in Laos
The time of visits to Laos: 130 (31.4%) went on the first visit, 48 (11.6%) went on the second visit and 236 (57.0%) went on the third visit; Time in Laos: 189 (45.7%) were less than 3 months, 74 (17.9%) were between 3 and 6 months, 56 (13.5%) were between 6 and 12 months and 95 (22.9%) were greater than 12 months; Satisfaction degree of foreign financial aid: 182 (44.0%) were satisfied, 74 (17.9%) were dissatisfied and 158 (38.2%) were not clear. The material living standards and daily needs in Laos: 98 were very satisfied (23.7%), 277 were meet basic satisfaction (66.9%) and 39 were not satisfied (9.4%). Dietary status: 227 (54.8%) were satisfied, 31 (7.5%) were dissatisfied and 156 (37.7%) were general. Their family’s attitudes towards Laos: 319 were support (77.1%), 59 were not support (14.3%) and 36 were not care (8.7%)
According to the survey data, most of the overseas Chinese have been to Laos for several times and their time in abroad is relatively short. The material standard of living in Laos can basically meet their daily needs. Most of their families support them going to Laos and 38.2% of them are not aware of the foreign financial aid.
Mental Health Status (Table 1)
5 points were selected as the cutoff point of total GAD-7 and PHQ-9 scores, and the incidence of anxiety was 28.5%, among which the incidence of mild, moderate and severe anxiety was 20.5%, 3.9% and 4.1% respectively. The incidence of depression was 36.2%, which was 23.9%, 6.3%, 3.4% and 2.7% respectively, in mild, moderate, moderate-to-severe and severe cases. After the measurement data were tested by normality test, Spearman rank correlation analysis was used to find that the correlation coefficient between GAD 7 anxiety score and PHQ-9 depression score was 0.754 (P<0.001), indicating that there was a high positive correlation between depression and anxiety in Overseas Chinese in Laos.
Influencing factors of mental health status (Table 2, 3, 4)
Influence factors analysis of anxiety and depression make anxiety (0 = no, 1 = yes) and depression (0 = no, 1 = yes) as the dependent variable, the possible influence factors as independent variables. Nonconditional binary logistic regression method was used for single factor analysis one by one and independent variable with statistical significance (p<0.05) will make further multivariate analysis. Nonconditioned binary classification logistic regression was used for multivariate analysis and Omnibus method was used to test the overall effectiveness of logistic regression fitting model. When regress fitting equation, the forward stepwise LR regression in the stepwise method (= 0.05 as the inclusion criterion and = 0.10 as the exclusion criterion) was used for analysis.
The single factor analysis results showed that the factors affecting the anxiety and depression of overseas Chinese included gender, family's attitude towards going abroad, foreign financial subsidies, local material living standard and diet in Laos.
The multivariate analysis results showed that the satisfaction with foreign financial subsidies (Wald =12.359, p=0.002) and the satisfaction with diet (Wald =14.217, p=0.001) were the main factors for the incidence of depression among overseas Chinese in Laos. The differences between the comparison groups were statistically significant. The material living standard (Wald =47.546, P<0.01) and family support for going to Laos (Wald =10.321, P=0.006) were the main factors affecting the anxiety of overseas Chinese. There were significant differences between the two comparison groups.