Dataset Information

Period poverty and mental health implications among college-aged women in the United States.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The purpose of this study is to examine the frequency of "period poverty," or not being able to afford sanitary products, among university students, and associations with poor mental health.

Methods

An online survey was conducted with a nationally-drawn sample (N?=?471) of college-attending women to assess the association between period poverty and depression. Period poverty was measured via two questions designed for this study; depression was measured with the standard PHQ-9. Multivariable logistic regression was utilized for analysis.

Results

Among our sample, 14.2% of women had experienced period poverty ever in the past-year; an additional 10% experienced it every month. Compared to those who had never experienced period poverty, adjusted analysis revealed that women with monthly past-year period poverty were the most likely to report moderate/severe depression (AOR?=?2.34, 95% CI 1.09-4.99), followed by those who had experienced it ever in the past year (AOR?=?1.83, 95% CI, 0.99-3.38).

Conclusion

Many young women cannot afford menstrual health products to meet their monthly needs, and this may impact their mental well-being. Improved access to affordable menstrual products is needed to support these young women.

SUBMITTER: Cardoso LF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7788986 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Period poverty and mental health implications among college-aged women in the United States.

Cardoso Lauren F LF Scolese Anna M AM Hamidaddin Alzahra A Gupta Jhumka J

BMC women's health 20210106 1

<h4>Background</h4>The purpose of this study is to examine the frequency of "period poverty," or not being able to afford sanitary products, among university students, and associations with poor mental health.<h4>Methods</h4>An online survey was conducted with a nationally-drawn sample (N = 471) of college-attending women to assess the association between period poverty and depression. Period poverty was measured via two questions designed for this study; depression was measured with the standar ...[more]

PMID: 33407330

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Project description:While the field of empirical study on religion and spirituality in relation to mental health has rapidly expanded over the past decade, little is known about underlying dimensions of spirituality cross-culturally conceived. We aimed to bridge this gap by inductively deriving potential universal dimensions of spirituality through a large-scale, multi-national data collection, and examining the relationships of these dimensions with common psychiatric conditions. Five-thousand five-hundred and twelve participants from China, India, and the United States completed a two-hour online survey consisting of wide-ranging measures of the lived experience of spirituality, as well as clinical assessments. A series of inductive Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and cross-validating Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) were conducted to derive common underlying dimensions of spirituality. Logistic regression analyses were then conducted with each dimension to predict depression, suicidal ideation, generalized anxiety, and substance-related disorders. Preliminary EFA results were consistently supported by ESEM findings. Analyses of 40 spirituality measures revealed five invariant factors across countries which were interpreted as five dimensions of universal spiritual experience, specifically: love, in the fabric of relationships and as a sacred reality; unifying interconnectedness, as a sense of energetic oneness with other beings in the universe; altruism, as a commitment beyond the self with care and service; contemplative practice, such as meditation, prayer, yoga, or qigong; and religious and spiritual reflection and commitment, as a life well-examined. Love, interconnectedness, and altruism were associated with less risk of psychopathology for all countries. Religious and spiritual reflection and commitment and contemplative practice were associated with less risk in India and the United States but associated with greater risk in China. Education was directly associated with dimensions of spiritual awareness in India and China but inversely associated with dimensions in the United States. Findings support the notion that spirituality is a universal phenomenon with potentially universal dimensions. These aspects of spirituality may each offer protective effects against psychiatric symptoms and disorders and suggest new directions for treatment.

Project description:BackgroundIn the US, over 52.9 million (21%) adults lived with a mental health illness in 2020, with depression, being one of the commonest of these conditions. The World Health Organization ranks depression as the most important contributor to global disability. As frontline workers who are responsible for taking care of a myriad of patients daily, health workers are usually exposed to depressive situations which eventually result in the development of the condition among them. This study, therefore, developed an intervention to reduce depression among workers at the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic in Washington District of Columbia, United States.MethodsA pre-intervention survey was conducted among 43 employees. The survey used the already validated Patient Health Questionnaire depression scale (PHQ-9) to determine the prevalence of depression. The WHO Healthy Workplace Model was adopted in designing an instrument for the workplace determinants of depression. An mHealth intervention was then developed and implemented among the workers. After this, a post-intervention survey was conducted among the cohort. Descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted in analyzing the data with STATA.ResultsThe pre-intervention survey showed a depression prevalence of 30.2% among the employees. The post-intervention survey, however, showed that the prevalence of depression among the employees reduced to 12.6%. The surveys also showed that the majority of employees who felt exposed to workplace hazards including harmful chemicals, expressed feelings of depression (pre-intervention = 53.6%; post-intervention = 80%).ConclusionThe intervention designed for this study was effective in reducing self-reported depression among employees. Improving employee mental health in health care facilities will require awareness raising among employees, mental health friendly policies, and regular follow up of employee mental health needs. Though this intervention was on a small scale, it shows promise for using cheap mhealth solutions in improving mental health at the work place.

Dataset Information

Period poverty and mental health implications among college-aged women in the United States.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Period poverty and mental health implications among college-aged women in the United States.

Similar Datasets

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