Objective To understand the job competency of community geriatric mental health service personnel in China and its influencing factors, and to provide a reference for actively addressing the mental health problems and needs of the elderly and improving the capacity of primary-level geriatric mental health services.

Methods In November 2019, a convenience sampling method was used to recruit 5 806 managers and professionals at all levels engaged in mental health services from 818 communities sampled in 31 provinces (autonomous regions, and municipalities) in China for a questionnaire survey. Latent class analysis (LCA) was used to explore the latent variables of attitudes towards community geriatric mental health services, and a multiple linear regression model was used to analyze the influencing factors of job competency among community geriatric mental health service personnel.

Results The comprehensive job competency scores of the 5 793 Chinese community geriatric mental health service personnel finally included in the analysis ranged from 0 to 5, with an average score of (2.55±1.08). The LCA results showed that the latent classes of attitudes towards community geriatric mental health services were high identification and high attitude professional group (n=1 531, 26.43%) and low identification and low attitude group (n=4 262, 73.57%). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that compared with men, the average comprehensive job competency score of female community geriatric mental health service personnel increased by 0.109 points (β=0.109, t=3.35, P<0.001); compared with the 18-29 age group, the average comprehensive job competency scores of community geriatric mental health service personnel aged 30–44, 45–59, and ≥60 years decreased by 0.156 points (β= –0.156, t= –3.40, P<0.001), 0.228 points (β= –0.228, t= –4.99, P<0.001), and 0.285 points (β= –0.285, t= –4.57, P<0.001), respectively; compared with those with a high school education or below, the average comprehensive job competency scores of community geriatric mental health service personnel with college, undergraduate, and master's degrees or above increased by 0.185 points (β=0.185, t=4.33, P<0.001), 0.385 points (β=0.385, t=8.83, P<0.001), and 0.518 points (β=0.518, t=6.16, P<0.001), respectively; compared with those with no professional title, the average comprehensive job competency scores of community geriatric mental health service personnel with intermediate and senior professional titles increased by 0.148 points (β=0.148, t=3.75, P<0.001) and 0.177 points (β=0.177, t=2.97, P=0.003), respectively.

Conclusions The job competency of community geriatric mental health service personnel in China is relatively low, and age, gender, education level, and professional title are the main influencing factors.