IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v63y2017i3p244-254.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prevalence and risk factors of depression among garment workers in Bangladesh

Author

Listed:
  • Taylor Jennelle Fitch
  • Jacxelyn Moran
  • Gabriela Villanueva
  • Hari Krishna Raju Sagiraju
  • Mohammad Morshedul Quadir
  • Hasanat Alamgir

Abstract

Background: Depression is a growing health issue in both developed and developing countries. General unawareness at the population level, lack of training among health care providers and scarcity of resources including treatment opportunities may conceal the real burden of depression in developing countries, and more epidemiological studies on its prevalence and risk factors are critically needed. Aim: This study reports the prevalence of depression and its associated risk factors among female garment factory workers in Bangladesh – a major supplier country of clothes for the Western market. This research should generate useful evidence for national and international stakeholders who have an interest in improving health, safety and well-being of outsourced factory workers. Methods: A survey was conducted on a sample of 600 lower socio-economic status working women including garment workers. This survey collected data on demographic and health profile of these workers. The primary outcome was depression as measured by Patient Health Questionnaire 9. It also obtained data on traumatic life events and post-traumatic stress disorder. Results: The prevalence of depression was 23.5%: 20.9% among garment workers and 26.4% among others. Part-time employment (odds ratio-OR): 2.36, 95% confidence interval (95% CI): 1.01–5.51), chronic pain (OR: 1.67, 95% CI: 1.01–2.78), two or more traumatic life events (OR: 6.43, 95% CI: 2.85–14.55) and dysuria (OR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.02–6.15) were found to be significantly associated with depression among these workers in multivariate regression model. Depression prevalene lowered by 11% among these workers for every additional monthly earning of 1,000 taka (US$12). Conclusion: Depression is a multifaceted health issue with many personal, social, economic and health determinants and consequences. This study demonstrates that the prevalence of moderate-to-severe depression among working women in Bangladesh is quite high. Prevention and treatment of depression in developing countries and societies can reduce suffering, lower incidence of suicide, and prevent economic loss. Creating awareness on outsourced workers’ poor mental health may help in developing initiatives to protect and preserve their well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Taylor Jennelle Fitch & Jacxelyn Moran & Gabriela Villanueva & Hari Krishna Raju Sagiraju & Mohammad Morshedul Quadir & Hasanat Alamgir, 2017. "Prevalence and risk factors of depression among garment workers in Bangladesh," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 63(3), pages 244-254, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:63:y:2017:i:3:p:244-254
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764017695576
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764017695576
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764017695576?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Begum, F. & Ali, R.N & Hossain, M.A & Shahid, Sonia B., 2010. "Harassment of women garment workers in Bangladesh," Journal of the Bangladesh Agricultural University, Bangladesh Agricultural University Research System (BAURES), vol. 8.
    2. Vivian Kraaij & Ella Arensman & Philip Spinhoven, 2002. "Negative Life Events and Depression in Elderly Persons," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 57(1), pages 87-94.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bossavie, Laurent & Cho, Yoonyoung & Heath, Rachel, 2023. "The effects of international scrutiny on manufacturing workers: Evidence from the Rana Plaza collapse in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).
    2. Alan Barrett & Irene Mosca, 2013. "The psychic costs of migration: evidence from Irish return migrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 26(2), pages 483-506, April.
    3. Søren Harnow Klausen, 2020. "Understanding Older Adults’ Wellbeing from a Philosophical Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 21(7), pages 2629-2648, October.
    4. Iris Meulman & Bette Loef & Niek Stadhouders & Tron Anders Moger & Albert Wong & Johan J. Polder & Ellen Uiters, 2023. "Estimating healthcare expenditures after becoming divorced or widowed using propensity score matching," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 24(7), pages 1047-1060, September.
    5. Han Zhang & Tingting Gao & Jinglei Gao & Yixi Kong & Yueyang Hu & Ruimei Wang & Songli Mei, 2017. "A comparative study of negative life events and depressive symptoms among healthy older adults and older adults with chronic disease," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 63(8), pages 699-707, December.
    6. Lindsy Desmet & Jessie Dezutter & Anne Vandenhoeck & Annemie Dillen, 2022. "Religious Coping Styles and Depressive Symptoms in Geriatric Patients: Understanding the Relationship through Experiences of Integrity and Despair," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-18, March.
    7. Taylor Jennelle Fitch & Xiao Yu & Lung-Chang Chien & Mohammad Monjurul Karim & Hasanat Alamgir, 2018. "Traumatic life events and development of post-traumatic stress disorder among female factory workers in a developing country," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 64(4), pages 351-358, June.
    8. Chokkanathan, Srinivasan, 2009. "Resources, stressors and psychological distress among older adults in Chennai, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 243-250, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:63:y:2017:i:3:p:244-254. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.