Effects of "percieved socio-personal capacity promotion intervention" on mental health and quality of life of female head of households in Tabriz, Iran

Abstract

Background and objectives: After losing their husbands, female heads of households are forced to play multiple and conflicting roles and, due to lack of access to high-paying jobs, are forced to work in marginal, part-time, informal, and low-income jobs. As a result, the high anxiety and stress they experience make these women among the most vulnerable segments of society and they face numerous physical and mental problems. Given the many and complex problems of these women, it is necessary to implement interventions with an empowerment-based health promotion approach. Therefore, the research team decided to investigate whether increasing female heads of households' understanding of their assets and their ability to manage life challenges with these assets can increase their quality of life and mental health. Materials and methods: This research was an interventional study with a pretest-posttest design with a control group. The study was conducted on female heads of households aged 30-54 years living in Tabriz city in 1402-1403. First, 174 female heads of households were selected from health centers using simple cluster random sampling. To measure quality of life, mental health, sense of coherence, self-efficacy, self-esteem, perceived stress, and socioeconomic status, we used the SF-12, GHQ-12, Antonovsky-12, Scherer-17, Rosenberg-10, Cohen-14, and SESIRAN questionnaires, respectively. After examining the participants' condition, an intervention program was designed. A total of 40 people expressed their willingness to enter the next phase of the study and were randomly divided into two control groups (17 people) and intervention (23 people) with four blocks. The intervention program was designed at three levels of perceptibility, manageability, and meaningfulness, which was implemented for the participants in three sessions. Post-tests were conducted 3 and 6 months after the study. Results: According to the findings of the cross-sectional study, these women had good self-efficacy, self-esteem, and mental health. They scored moderately in quality of life and social support, and low in sense of coherence. Perceived stress was high in these women. In the assessment 3 and 6 months after the intervention, no significant change was observed in any of the variables compared to before the intervention. Conclusion: Female heads of households had a low sense of cohesion, and therefore experienced more stress when facing problems. The reasons for the lack of impact of the present intervention on the mental health and quality of life of the participants can be attributed to the existence of many social determinants in the lives of these individuals. As a result, short-term individual interventions may not have been able to improve their sense of cohesion, mental health, or quality of life. Therefore, the many and complex problems of these women require multifaceted interventions at the individual, family, and political levels. Also, given the many obstacles in the lives of these individuals, it is suggested that the programs be accompanied by follow-up periods so that they can be supported until they make positive changes in their living conditions.