Mental Health and Associated Factors amongst Women Referred to Health Care Centers

Providing a wide range of caring support and mental health services for women is one of the most important factors for promoting family and community stability and sustainability. Mental disorders especially among women impose more constrains on not only individuals but also community. This gender with different roles as a wife, mother, or care giver is more vulnerable to mental disorders. This study explored mental health status and its related factors among women referred to health centers of Kermanshah City in 2010. In this cross-sectional and descriptive study, 350 women have been selected using random cluster sampling in 15 health centers of the city in September to December 2010. Standard questionnaire of General Health (GHQ-28) and a demographic questionnaire were applied for collecting data. Data was entered in SPSS-14 and analyzed by Chi square Tests. The results revealed 48.3 percent of the women were suspected to have mental disorders. The prevalence of disorders according to four proposed dimensions of the GHQ-28 questionnaire, physical symptoms, anxiety, social functioning and depression, was 40.6, 42.9, 32.3 and 44.9 percent respectively. Significant association between age (p=0.004), marital status (p=0.01), spouse's education and occupation (p=0.02) and (p=0.03), economic status (p=0.02), age of marriage (p=0.001), unwanted pregnancy (p=0.001), and history of mental illness (p=0.002), with mental health was explored by Chi square tests. Reported high prevalence of mental disorders among women in this study urges not only the necessity of more health authoritie's attention to mental health among women, but also recommend more wider and detailed studies in different parts of the country to explore mental health determinants among women for early detection and timely treatment.