Migration For Work, Mental Health And Aids In Mali

National Institute Of Mental Health

Investigators

Abstract

In collaboration with the Centre Regional de Medecine Traditionnelle in Bandiagara Mali, this longitudinal project investigates how migration for work and other socio-environmental factors affect psychological functioning, mental and physical health as well as the nature of AIDS-related attitudes and behaviors, in the Dogon (primarily farmers), Fulani (primarily herders) and Bozo (primarily fishermen) ethnic groups. It involves an interview of a representative sample of 1002 rural Malians. The three-pronged protocol reflects the two units' joint and individual concerns. One prong is the test of the generalizability to rural Mali of the SSES findings in industrially developed societies that doing self-directed and substantively complex work leads to more self-directed and autonomous orientations and more effective intellectual functioning. The second prong is an examination of the consequences for mental health of stressful occupational conditions, including migration for work. The third prong is the examination of the effects of a) migration for work and b) cultural and socioenvironmental factors on AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. The first wave of data collection was conducted in 1996/1997. Last year, we finished collecting data from the second wave, successfully conducting interviews with over 80% of the original respondents. This year, we worked on data coding and entry of these second wave data. Using the data from both waves, we developed a series of Structural Equation measurement models of key concepts (e.g., substantive complexity of work, authoritarianism) that parallel those we have developed from similar surveys in industrialized countries. Preliminary analyses suggest that some of the relationships among these variables are notably different from those that we found in our earlier research in industrialized societies.