Socio-demographic correlates of self-rated health among Santals of rural West Bengal, India

Abstract

Objectives: Self-rated health (SRH) is considered as a subjective measure of health and widely used in population surveys. The present study aimed to see the socio-demographic characteristics and reported morbidity wise variation of self-rated health and to examine the association between socio-demographic characteristics and self-rated health of the rural Santals. Methods: Using a standard household census schedule socio-demographic data were collected from 425 adult Santals of both sexes of Bankura district, West Bengal. SRH data were collected asking people to choose their current health status within five possible options: ‘very good,’ ‘good,’ ‘average,’ ‘bad,’ and ‘very bad.’ Univariate and multivariate forward stepwise logistic regression analyses used to examine the association between SRH and sociodemographic characteristics. Results: Majority of the study participant rated their health as ‘average’ followed by ‘bad,’ ‘good,’ and ‘very bad’ irrespective of sex. Results of univariate logistic regression analyses showed that SRH has significant association with age group, level of education, occupation types, marital status, house type, and sex. Elderly (OR= 6.78) and middle-aged (OR=2.52) individuals were more likely to report ‘bad’ health compared to young individuals. Participants with formal education i.e. from primary level (OR= 0.42) to higher secondary and above (OR= 0.04) were less likely to report ‘bad’ health compared to nonliterate participants. Unmarried people (OR= 0.36) were less likely to report ‘bad’ health, while widowed/ divorced/ separated individuals (OR = 2.87) were more likely to report ‘bad’ health compared to married individuals. Males (OR= 0.67) were less likely to report ‘bad’ SRH than females. Conclusion: SRH cannot be used as single item measure of health because such rating is always influenced by several socio-demographic factors especially among socioeconomically disadvantageous community. 

Keywords

• Self-rated health,reported morbidity,socio-demographic characteristics,rural Santal

References

1. Anson O, Paran E, Neumann L, Chernichovsky D. (1993) Gender differences in health perceptions and their predictors. Soc Sci Med 36:419-427.