Mental health, quality of life, and nutritional status of adolescents in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Comparison between an urban slum and a non-slum area

This study aims to clarify the quality of life (QOL), mental health, and nutritional status of adolescents in Dhaka city, Bangladesh by comparing non-slum areas and slums, and to find the factors associated with their mental health problems. A sample of 187 boys and 137 girls from non-slum areas, an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science & medicine (1982) 2006-09, Vol.63 (6), p.1477-1488
Main Authors: Izutsu, Takashi, Tsutsumi, Atsuro, Islam, Akramul Md, Kato, Seika, Wakai, Susumu, Kurita, Hiroshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Age Factors
Bangladesh
Bangladesh - epidemiology
Bangladesh Developing countries Mental health Slum Quality of life Urbanization Gender
Biological and medical sciences
Body Weight
Child
Conduct Disorder - epidemiology
Developing Countries
Employment
Female
Gender
Humans
LDCs
Male
Medical sciences
Mental Health
Miscellaneous
Nutrition
Nutritional Status
Poverty Areas
Public health. Hygiene
Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine
Quality of Life
Sex Factors
Slum
Slums
Surveys and Questionnaires
Teenagers
Urban Population
Urbanization
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Summary:This study aims to clarify the quality of life (QOL), mental health, and nutritional status of adolescents in Dhaka city, Bangladesh by comparing non-slum areas and slums, and to find the factors associated with their mental health problems. A sample of 187 boys and 137 girls from non-slum areas, and 157 boys and 121 girls from slums, between 11–18 years old were interviewed with a questionnaire consisting of a Bangla translation of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment Instrument (WHOQOL-BREF), Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ), Youth Self-Report (YSR) and other questions. The height and weight of the respondents were measured. All significant differences in demographic characteristics, anthropometric measures, and WHOQOL-BREF were found to reflect worse conditions in slum than in non-slum areas. Contrarily, all differences in SRQ and YSR were worse in non-slum areas for both genders, except that the “conduct problems” score for YSR was worse for slum boys. Mental states were mainly associated with school enrolment and working status. Worse physical environment and QOL were found in slums, along with gender and area specific mental health difficulties. The results suggest gender specific needs and a requirement for area sensitive countermeasures.
ISSN:0277-9536
1873-5347
DOI:10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.04.013