Predicting Factors of Quality of Life, Reproductive Health and Nutritional Status of Women Workers in Sugarcane Harvesting

Abstract

Sugarcane harvesting workers, particularly migratory women, constitute a highly vulnerable population exposed to strenuous physical labour, seasonal migration, poor living conditions, and limited access to healthcare services, all of which adversely affect their overall health and well-being. The present study was undertaken to assess the quality of life, reproductive health, and nutritional status of migratory women workers engaged in sugarcane harvesting. A total of 220 respondents aged between 20–50 years were selected from Bagalkot and Belagavi districts of Karnataka using a purposive random sampling method. Data were collected through a self-structured questionnaire. Standardized tools were used for assessment, including WHO (1997) scale for quality of life, Hasan (2002) scale for reproductive health, WHO BMI classification for nutritional status, and Aggarwal et al. (2005) scale for socio-economic status. The results revealed that the majority (78.20%) of the respondents had moderate quality of life, while 21.40 per cent had poor quality of life and only one respondent reported good quality of life. With regard to reproductive health, more than half (60.50%) of the respondents had poor reproductive health, whereas 39.50 per cent had average reproductive health and none had high reproductive health status. In terms of nutritional status, nearly half (46.80%) of the respondents were underweight, 50.00 per cent had normal weight, and only 3.20 per cent were overweight, indicating the prevalence of undernutrition among the study population. Further regression analysis showed that individual, familial, and maternal health characteristics significantly influenced quality of life, reproductive health, and nutritional status, explaining up to 22 per cent, 37 per cent, and 22 per cent of variation, respectively.