Perceived stress among anganwadi workers (AWWS) in integrated child development services (ICDS) programme

ICDS Programme started on 2^nd October, 1975 is a nationwide programme of Government Of India for maternal and child health. Under this programme, six services consisting of Pre-school Education, Immunization, Nutrition and Health Education, health checkup and referral services are provided to children upto six years of age, pregnant and lactating mothers. These services are delivered through key service providers of the programme called AWWs. The purpose of the study was to study the stress among AWWs they encounter which effect quality of their services. This study was carried out to study the perceived stress among AWWs in urban and rural areas of U.P. An interview schedule was used for AWWs for the purpose of study. Perceived stress was assessed using the Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) which is an internationally validated 10 items questionnaire. A total of 200 AWWs were selected through purposive sampling method which consists of 100 AWWs from Urban areas and 100 AWWs from rural areas of U.P. The mean PSS score was 16.17 (S.D. 5.592) for urban AWWs and 17.99 (S.D. 5.092) for rural AWWs. The findings shows that 71.5% AWWs have moderate stress level. There was stress and dissatisfaction among majority of AWWs who were studied. Improvements in their remuneration and an improved administration are also required for better work efficiency of AWWs. There is a need to ensure both the physical and psychological well-being of AWWs.