Abstract :
Introduction: 10% of the world’s population has mild mental disorders, and 1% suffers from severe mental
disorders, while in India prevalence rates of common mental disorders range from 6 to 7% and severe
mental disorders 1–2%. Mental health of workers affects the productivity of the workplace, with estimates
putting these losses to be over 100 million dollars annually.
Objectives
• Screening of common mental disorders among workers working in small-scale industries;
• To determine the socio-demographic and occupational determinants related to mental disorders in
workers working in small-scale industries.
Materials and Methods: The study is a cross-sectional study and was conducted among 100 workers of
small-scale industries having at least 10 employees in an urban slum of north east Delhi during July to August
2016. Written informed consent was taken from each study participant. A pretested sociodemographic
questionnaire and screening tool GHQ-12 (general health questionnaire) and PHQ-SADS (patient’s health
questionnaire) was used in the study. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Data of 30 cases was
analyzed
Results: On screening for presence of symptoms suggestive of psychological distress and mental disorder
using GHQ-12, out of 100 participants almost all (98%) were found to be at risk. About 38% were having
low-somatic symptoms while 14% were having symptoms suggestive of mild anxiety and 23% of moderate
depression.
Conclusion: The study threw light on prevalence of common mental disorders among small-scale industrial
workers and various determinants associated with them.
Keyword :
Small-scale industry, Common mental disorder