Many low-skilled and cheap labour have migrated to the gulf countries from Nepal; they work in risky conditions, which results in an accident, disabilities as well as physical and mental abuse. There is limited evidence regarding the mental health issues of migrant workers during the pre-departure phase, which has created a gap in the provision of counseling and coping mechanisms to promote mental health of migrant workers at the destination countries. The primary objective of this study was to identify the prevalence and associated factors of psychological distress among migrant workers during the pre-departure phase. Besides, another objective was to describe the perception of risk factors at the workplace for psychological distress during the pre-departure phase.
A cross-sectional study was carried out on migrant workers, departing to GCC countries during their pre-departure orientation training using a validated questionnaire. This questionnaire had three parts: socio-demographic and foreign employment-related questions, DASS-21 to measure psychological distress, and perception scale to measure perception of risk factors at the workplace. This tool was self-administered to the 445 consenting migrant workers from eight pre-departure training institutes for eight weeks. Mean, frequency, and percentage were computed for descriptive analysis, and bivariate and multivariate logistic regression was carried out to identify the associated factors with psychological distress as well as anxiety, depression, and stress.
Prevalence of psychological distress was measured as 20.9% among the study population along with depression at 25.3%, anxiety at 29.4% and stress at 12.8%. In the final multivariate analysis, psychological distress was higher for females (AOR = 2.016, p = 0.04) and perception of bad working conditions (AOR = 2.44, p = 0.04). Depression was found to be lower among those who smoked and had alcohol in the last one month (AOR = 0.36, p = 003), and those who perceived that they will not be able to change their work (AOR = 0.563, p = 0.038). Whereas depression was more among those who had a perception of bad working conditions (AOR = 3.004, p = 0.017) and would not be getting rest at work (AOR = 2.154, p= 0.01). Similarly, anxiety was higher for those with perception of poor safety measures at work (AOR = 2.48, p = 0.01), food problems (AOR = 1.95, p = 0.01), and unfavorable weather (AOR = 2.11, p = 0.01. Likewise, stress was higher for females (AOR = 2.37, p = 0.03).
Results suggested that migrant workers are facing significant mental health problems during the pre-departure phase. Pre-departure screening of the severity of symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress among migrant workers would help to decrease the problem of psychological distress at different phases of migration with the provision of general counseling and counseling for a coping mechanism. Association of perception of bad working conditions, poor safety measures and not getting rest at the workplace with psychological distress necessitates the need for more in-depth qualitative study and specific training packages during the pre-departure orientation.
