Study of Common Mental Disorders among Small-Scale Industry Workers in an Urban Slum in North East Delhi, India

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.