Quality of life among seafarers aboard the government passenger ships at Kochi Port.

Background: Quality of shipboard life plays a significant role, as for a seafarer the ship is both his workplace and home for extended periods. Physical, psychological, social and environmental factors have a substantial impact on the seafarers' quality of life and work. The aim of the study was to analyse the domains determining the factors associated with the seafarers' quality of life at Kochi Port, India.

Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study in which 302 Indian seafarers took part in the research and was conducted in January-February, 2020. WHOQOL-BREF scale was used to explore the four domains of quality of life, and the participants had to rate their perceived satisfaction in each of the domains. The trained researcher conducted a face-to-face interview session using a structured questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate analysis was used to determine associations and predictors for quality of life, respectively.

Results: The majority (80%) of the seafarers were married and were from a rural area (74%). The mean score (standard deviation) was highest for the psychological domain 70.9 (10.5), followed by environmental domain 69.9 (13.2), social relations domain 68.5 (16.9) and physical domain 61.2 (12.8), respectively. A significant association was found between age and the psychological domain (p < 0.05). At the same time, the area of residence had a significant association with physical and psychological domains whereas marital status with physical, psychological and environmental domains (p < 0.05). Daily working hours had a significant association with psychological domains and work experience with the physical and psychological domains (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The findings of this study are an indication for the health policy makers to focus on interventions for improving the quality of life among the seafarers and would also help in enhancing healthy work environments for them.