Psychological health and its associates among migrants and non-migrants in a rural area of Northern India

Abstract

Background: Migration, whether voluntary or forced, entails major adaptations. An elaborate insight into the circumstances helps to induce various interventions in migrants. Aims and Objectives: To elicit the psychological health, lifestyle variables, religiosity, spirituality and coping among migrants and compare it with non-migrants in a rural locality. Material and Methods: A community based, cross-sectional study was undertaken among 404 adults aged 20 years and above. The General Health Questionnaire-12, Religiosity scale by Wilkes, The Daily Spiritual Experience Scale and COPE scale were used as psychometric tools for data collection. Data was analysed using SPSS (Version 20.0). Results: A sample of 137 migrants and 267 non-migrants were analysed. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups for occupation and education (p=0.002 & 0.000 respectively). The mean scores of the psychological health of migrants (10.58± 6.32) were slightly better than that of non-migrants (11.49 ±5.69, p= 0.142). Spirituality scores showed migrants being more inclined towards spiritualism (p=0.016). Young age, religious and spiritual propensity showed a statistically significant correlation with better Psychological health (p=0.036, 0.000 & 0.013respectively). Conclusion: Providing psychosocial assistance to migrant populations focusing on educational, occupational & religious-spiritual issues can reduce vulnerabilities especially for psychological health.