Internal migration and mental disorders among the adult population: a community-based cross-sectional study in Nepal

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mental disorders are a leading cause of years lived with disability; anxiety and depressive disorders are the most common mental disorders. Worldwide, 970 million people are suffering from mental disorders, and 82% of people with mental health conditions live in low- and middle-income countries. Of the total, 13.2% live in the South East Asia region, and 10% of adults are suffering from any type of mental disorder in Nepal. Mental health conditions are severely underserved, neglected, under-resourced, and there are research gaps all over the world. Genetic, social, behavioral, and discrimination are risk factors for mental disorders. There are limited studies focusing on internal migration, health, and healthcare service utilization. This study aims to investigate whether the condition of internal migration is independently associated with mental disorders. Thus, the study objectives are to assess the prevalence and independent risk factors for mental disorders in the Nepali adult internal migrant population. METHOD: The study will be a community-based cross-sectional study using the latest data from the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2022. Data were collected with computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI) along with validated psychometric tools, and one question related to mental health: “Ever been told by a doctor/health care worker you have: depression/anxiety?” with the response being Yes or No. The response to the question will be used to define mental disorders in the study population. Yes for both depression and anxiety or for any one yes response of depression and anxiety will be considered a mental disorder. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression will be used to determine the independent association of potential covariates, especially internal migration, with the outcome variable. RESULTS: The results of the study will be descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate logistic regression analyses. The results will be presented in tables with frequencies, odds, and 95% confidence intervals with significance at <0.05 p-value. The final report will be published in a peer-reviewed journal.