Investigation on the Mental Health Indices in Housewives and Employed Women in Ilam City

Women constitute half of the population in any society that, in addition to responsibility for training the children, they have important roles in the community. Women's mental health is an essential parameter in any society. The aim of this study was to investigate the comparison of mental health between housewives and employed women in Ilam city. This cross-sectional study was conducted among 539 of 20-50 years old women (280 housewives and 259 employed women) with diploma and higher education in Ilam city. Data collection was carried out through the public health questionnaire of Goldberg and Hiller (GHQ-28). The descriptive and analytical statistics (Chi-square, T-test and Variance analysis) was used to analysis the data. 47.1 % of the housewives and 42.1 % of the employed women were suspected to mental disorders that this difference was not significant between two groups (p=0.23). The prevalence rate of behavioral disorders in each sub-scale was 4.8 %, 3.9 %, 3.7 % and 2.9 % for physical symptoms, disturbance in social performance, anxiety and sleep disorder and depression and suicide tendency, respectively. Discussion & The results of the present study showed that the h-ousewives and employed women in Ilam city had not suitable mental health. The-refore, it is essential that the extensive measures should be done for identification, prevention and treatment of them.