Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun 3;43(1):76.
doi: 10.1186/s41043-024-00546-y.

Assessing the mental health of slum dwellers: an ordinal logistic approach

Nasim Bin Jinnah Hijol  1 , Nahid Salma  2 , Indrani Sarker  1
Affiliations

Assessing the mental health of slum dwellers: an ordinal logistic approach

Nasim Bin Jinnah Hijol et al. J Health Popul Nutr. .

Abstract

Background: Stress, depression and anxiety are prevalent mental health concerns that are getting worse every day in the context of rapidly expanding megacities, where a rising number of people live in slums. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the state of mental health and related variables underlying mental health issues among the impoverished population.

Methodology: A total of 384 slum residents from the Khulna division responded to our questionnaire, which included the DASS-21 and other pertinent questions. Using ordinal logistic regression, the significant factors were extracted.

Results: The Cronbach's reliability coefficient for the DASS-21 scale lies between 0.79 and 0.89 which indicates the high reliability of the DASS-21 scales. According to the findings, roughly 72.7%, 84.1%, and 69% of participants slum dwellers experienced anxiety, depression, and anxiety problems respectively. The result of ordinal logistic regression shows, slum dwellers of female gender (B = 0.669*, 95% CI 0.141, 1.197), married (B = 1.506*, 95% CI 0.119, 2.893), having only one earning member in the family (B = 1.224*, 95% CI 0.526, 1.922), day laborers (B = 2.294*, 95% CI 1.115, 3.473), not being able to educate children due to financial problem (B = 0.558*, 95% CI 0.183, 0.932) were more likely to report high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress.

Conclusion: The study finds that a significant portion of people who live in slums struggle with mental health issues. It also points to the need for further support, intervention, and study on Khulna's slum inhabitants who are experiencing mental health issues. The authors anticipate that the results will spur policymakers and government representatives to enhance financing for slum dwellers and employ psychological intervention strategies, both of which will aid in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal.

Keywords: Bangladesh; DASS-21; Khulna division; Mental health; Slum.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have any competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Location map of the study [8]
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Participants' mental health status
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. ADAA. What are anxiety and depression? Anxiety & Depression Association of America; (2022).
    1. Alamgir MS, Jabbar MA, Islam MS. Assessing the livelihood of slum dwellers in Dhaka city. J Bangladesh Agricult Univer. 2009;7(2):373–380. doi: 10.3329/jbau.v7i2.4749. - DOI
    1. Amjad K. Mental stress of climate migrant’s poor women living in slums of Dhaka city. Mental. 2019;6(8):131–138.
    1. Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics. (2022). Population and Housing Census.
    1. bdnews24. The number of slum dwellers in Bangladesh has increased by 60.43 percent in 17 years (2015, June 29).