Mental health, well-being, and poverty: a study in urban and rural communities in Northeastern Brazil

NEPOMUCENO, Bárbara Barbosa; CARDOSO, Antonio Alan Vieira; XIMENES, Verônica Morais; BARROS, João Paulo Pereira; LEITE, Jáder Ferreira. Mental health, well-being, and poverty: a study in urban and rural communities in Northeastern Brazil. Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, Philadelphia, v. 44, n. 1, p. 63-75, 2015This article analyzes the relations between mental health and well-being in urban and rural contexts marked by poverty. The analysis takes as its basis a quantitative research conducted with 417 adult inhabitants of two communities, one rural and the other urban, in Northeastern Brazil. The data were constructed using questionnaires composed of sociodemo-graphic data, the Personal Wellbeing Index and Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ-20) scales. We found significant differences between the inhabitants of the rural and urban communities regarding well-being and the prevalence of common mental disorders (CMD), with a higher average well-being score in the rural context; the urban sample had a higher average regarding the prevalence of CMD. The variable income significantly influenced the SRQ-20 average scores; the same was not observed with well-being scores. Besides, it was observed that there is a negative correlation with well-being and CMD