Psychological Morbidity among Married Women of Reproductive Age Group Living In Rural Jammu: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Globally, one in three women will be afflicted by common mental disorders including depression by the year 2020(WHO). The study was conducted to assess the prevalence of psychological morbidity and its relationship with various Sociodemographic factors among women of reproductive age group living in a rural area of Jammu district. Methods: This was a field-based cross-sectional study conducted in village Tanda of R.S.Pura Block, Jammu district. Using purposive sampling, 197 eligible women who agreed to participate were interviewed. Data was collected using a pretested Self Rating questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20). The data so collected was first entered into a master chart on Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and analyzed using it and SPSS 20 .0 software. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 32.27± 7.87years.the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity was found to be 22.3% among the study population. A significant association of age at marriage and the presence of psychological morbidity was seen. 70.5% of those with psychological morbidity were married before the age of 21 years. Conclusion: There is an urgent need to develop women-friendly health policies to improve the mental health of Indian women.

Keywords

• SQR-20
• Rural women
• Psychological health
• reproductive age