Comparative study of health status in working men and women using Standard Form -36 questionnaire.

Introduction: Many studies have established the adverse effects of job strain on health status of women. We assume women are more prone for stress related disorders compared to men. In this study we will try to correlate health status in working women compared to men using standard form-36. Aims and objectives: The SF-36 is a widely used questionnaire for measuring physical and mental health status. These are multi-dimensional measures of self-reported health status. At the end of this scientific study working women will have some understanding about their physical and psychological wellbeing. Materials and methods: Standard Form-36 (1992-medical outcomes trust) Questionnaire is administered to collect data. The following 8 scales were measured and expressed as scores ranging from 0-100 .The scales are as follows. Physical functioning , Role limitations due to physical health problems, Role limitations due to emotional health problems, Energy and Fatigue, Emotional wellbeing, social functioning, Freedom from bodily pain, General health. Statistical Analysis: Comparison between two groups was done using student t test and chi square test. P value ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results : Women had less scores of emotional health compared to men (p=0.05)which was statistically significant. The scores for role limitations due to emotional problems was considerably less in women when compared to men (p=0.07). Overall general health scale is considerably less in females compared to men (p-0.02). Conclusion: Working women were found to have significantly less scores of mental health compared to men.