Housing Satisfaction Related to Health and Importance of Services in Urban Slums: Evidence from Dhaka, Bangladesh

• Published in: Social indicators research 2013-05, Vol.112 (1), p.163-185
• Main Authors: Zanuzdana, Arina, Khan, Mobarak, Kraemer, Alexander
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age; Bangladesh; Biological and medical sciences; Community Satisfaction; Correlation; Developing countries; Discontent; Dwellings; Education; Educational Attainment; Evidence; Family Size; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Ghettos; Habitat; Health care; Health Care Services; Health services; Households; Houses; Housing; Housing policy; Housing reform; Human ecology and demography; Human Geography; Income; Individual Characteristics; Indoor air quality; International Studies; LDCs; Life Satisfaction; Low income groups; Medical sciences; Medical Services; Megacities; Mental health; Microeconomics; Multiple Regression Analysis; Neighborhoods; Outcome variables; Outdoor air quality; Patient care; Physical Environment; Physical Health; Population; Potable water; Poverty; Poverty Areas; Prediction; Public Health; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Public Policy; Quality of Health Care; Quality of life; Quality of Life Research; Regression analysis; Role; Rural Areas; Rural populations; Satisfaction; Slums; Social Indicators; Social Sciences; Sociology; Sociology of health and medicine; Urban Areas; Urban sociology; World Bank
• ISSN: 0303-8300; 1573-0921
• DOI: 10.1007/s11205-012-0045-5

Quality of housing plays one of the key roles in a public health research, since inadequate housing may have direct or indirect negative impact on health. Higher satisfaction with housing was shown to be associated with higher income, higher age, a smaller family, higher education, being female and being an owner of a dwelling. The aim of our study is to identify the multiple sources of the satisfaction with housing in population of urban slums and rural areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We have used a combined variable "Housing Satisfaction", containing nine items related to satisfaction with different types of housing facilities (water, electricity, toilet etc.). Ordinal as well as binary multiple logistic regression models were applied to predict housing satisfaction. Rural residents (with 90 % house ownership) were much more satisfied with their housing than urban slum dwellers. Those respondents who perceived their area as "Very bad/Bad" to reach medical care reported significantly higher levels of housing dissatisfaction. Low satisfaction with available facilities (education, health services, etc.) as well as the adjacent neighbourhood being perceived as negative for own health showed as well a strong predictive effect on housing dissatisfaction. The major findings of our study showed a complex relationship between housing satisfaction and the quality of basic facilities including the reachability of medical care. Understanding the factors which lead to satisfaction with housing and residential environment is crucial for planning successful and effective housing policies.