Mental Health Problems among Male Tannery Workers: A Study of Kanpur City, India

Occupational health and mental health are the interconnected elements of the overall well-being of workers. The objective of the study was to estimate the prevalence and determinants of mental health disorder among male tannery workers. This study uses the GHQ-12 scale to measure the symptoms of mental health disorder among the male tannery workers, who were engaged in this occupation for at least one year. The primary data used in this paper was collected through a cross-sectional household survey of 286 male tannery workers, during January June 2015. The results showed that over two-fifths of illiterate workers (42%) had severe mental health disorder. Those who were in the 25-35 years’ age group and 36 and above years were 1.70 and 1.84 times in more likely to have mental health problems in Model-1. Education has emerged as a significant predictor. Increasing education level leads to decreasing mental health problems. It can also be seen that male tannery workers who were employed on the permanent basis were 0.33 (p<0.005) times less likely to have mental health problems in Model-II. It is evident from the result of moderate to high exposure to ergonomic stressors (69%) had the severe impact on mental health disorder. Male tannery workers who had moderate/high exposure to ergonomic stressors were 6.21 (p<0.001) times more likely to have the mental health problem in Model-III. This study exposed the factors which are consistently associated with mental health disorders such as the age of tannery workers, education, type of job contract, exposure to ergonomic stressors.