Mental Wellbeing of Physically Healthy Adult Beggars in Addis Ababa

Abstract

Physically healthy adults are earning a living from begging, despite the fact that it is not welcomed in many cultures and in religious teachings in Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to assess the mental wellbeing of the physically healthy adult beggars. A total of 64 screened participants for physical health were selected through simple random sampling, lottery method. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed to analyze data collected through a Mental Health Measuring device. The Findings seem to reveal that the mean mental wellbeing score of physically healthy beggars (56.6) was found to be above average (35); indicating that participants were mentally healthy. It was also found that there was a significant difference between substance addicted and non-addicted adult beggars in mental wellbeing; t(df = 36) = 6.8, p < .01): suggesting that addicted beggars scoring lower in mental health score. The researchers recommend that serious surveillance be put in place so that at least physically healthy adults who are supposed to be in productive age may not resort to begging.