[ comparison of mental health in employed and unemployed women in Shahrekord -2005]

ABSTRACT

Women, as the major foundation of every family, play an effective role in achieving a breakthrough in the community goals. Thus drawing attention to their mental and physical health is of great importance and this can, in turn impinge on the family and community health. This study was carried out to compare the mental health of the employed women with the unemployed ones in the health centers of Shahrekord. In this descriptive analytical and cross-sectional study, 500 women [250 employed and 250 unemployed] were selected randomly from nine health centers and were studied through GHQ -28 questionnaire. Factors such as pregnancy, menopause, celibacy, infertility, history of mental health, history of chronic disease, death of a beloved during the past year, level of education below grade 9 and a job history of less than 6 months were excluded from the study. Data was analysed by SPSS through t-test and chi-square test. The results indicated that 66.8% of the unemployed were healthy but 33.2% were unhealthy. In the unemployed, 69.2% were healthy but 30.8% were unhealthy. So there was no significant difference between mental health in the two groups. Also there was not a significant correlation between the individual characteristics and mental health in the two groups. Mean of GHO scores in various domains of the disease in the healthy and unhealthy subjects represents that physical and functional disorders, anxiety and depression in the two groups were not statistically significant. So it is suggested that health managers and policy makers of the health centers in the province have to pay more attention to mental health specially in unemployed women