SUBSTANCE ABUSE AMONG IMMIGRANT CONSTRUCTION WORKERS AND ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS

Abstract

Introduction: Substance abuse can simply be defined as a pattern of harmful use of any substance for mood-altering purposes. "Substances" can include alcohol and other drugs (illegal or not) as well as some substances that are not drugs at all. Drug use disorders are associated with substantial burden through impairment in major life roles and increased risk for suicidality, neuropsychological deficits, diminished quality of life, and infectious disease (eg, human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis)

Objectives:

• To estimate the prevalence of substance use among migrant workers.
• To assess the factors influencing substance abuse among the migrants worker.

Material and Method: This cross sectional study was conducted among the migrant workers working in western part of Uttar Pradesh, over the time duration of 3 months. All migrant laborers above the age group of 18 years were included in the study. Laborers who didn’t give consent for the study were excluded from the study. The study was conducted after getting informed consent from all the participants. Data was collected from ante-natal register using Predesigned, pretested, validated and structured proforma.

Result: In our study prevalence of substance abuse was found to be among 88.6% of participants. 40% of the study participants were consuming alcohol, 21% of the study participants were chewing tobacco. Around 18.4% were indulged in cannabis and smoking. In this study the participants stated the reasons for initiation of the substance abuse. Around 43% admitted that they initiated substance use because of their friends. Almost 21% of them stated stress as a triggering factor for substance use. Around 20% of the participants reasoned peer pressure. There was statistically significant association between substance users and socio demographic factors like age, sex, living with family and religion (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The result of the present study suggests that substance abuse among migrant workers was very high. Policy makers must pay extra attention to the health of migrants by implementing safety measures and organizing intense behaviour change communication.

Keywords: substance abuse, migrant workers, alcohol use