Satisfaction about neighbourhood conditions in relation to well-being status among married adults living in Dhaka megacity and its adjacent rural area: Results from a cross-sectional study

Satisfaction about neighbourhood conditions is found to be associated with well-being of the general population. To our knowledge, such information is limited in Dhaka megacity, which is one of the fastest growing megacities with an expected population of 22.0 million in 2025 from 13.5 million in 2007.

This study investigated the association between well-being (based on WHO 5-item Well-Being Index, a brief screening instrument for the detection of depression in the general population with high validity and reliability) and self-reported satisfaction related to 30 neighbourhood conditions (e.g. satisfaction about area of house, population density, electricity supply, toilet, garbage, educational, recreational and health facilities, community support, profession and income). We used a cross-sectional data of 1,870 married adults (response rate >90%) living in Dhaka megacity (n=1,473) and its adjacent rural areas (n=397). Each respondent was asked to report his/her satisfaction by choosing the most suitable answer from five categories: highly unsatisfied, unsatisfied, so-so, satisfied and highly satisfied. However, we recoded them into 3 groups (highly unsatisfied/unsatisfied, so-so, satisfied/highly satisfied) for analyses. Multiple logistic regression was employed as the main model.

Multiple logistic regression model which included age, sex, education, tobacco consumption, area of living, experience of any disease during the last 3 months, and self-perceived health indicated that odds ratio of poor well-being (cut-off point <13) was significantly higher among those subjects lived in rural areas, had lower education and reported poor self-perceived health. Further models adjusted for above-mentioned factors revealed consistently higher odds ratio of poor well-being among those reported highly unsatisfied/unsatisfied (for 29 conditions) and so-so (for 22 conditions) than those reported satisfied/highly satisfied.

Our findings underscored the necessity of considering the satisfaction of neighbourhood conditions while studying the well-being of individuals in a developing country like Bangladesh. Future investigations should explore causal pathways for effective public health interventions.