Perceived loneliness and its effect on general mental health of passenger and goods guards in Southern Railways

Pages: 995-1000
KP Naachimuthu (Department of Psychology, PSG College of Arts & Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu)
N. Ramkumar (PSG Institute of Management Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu)

The present study thus was aimed at finding the level of perceived loneliness of the goods/ passenger guards of the Southern Indian Railways and the impact of it on their General mental Health and Quality of Life. Southern Railways have four zones (Palakkad, Coimbatore, Chennai, Madurai, & Salem zone). Data were collected from 130 railway guards: 36 railway guards in Chennai region (19 goods guards / 16 passenger guards), 35 in Palakkad / Coimbatore (21 goods guards / 14 passenger guards), 31 in Madurai region (15 goods guards / 16 passenger guards), and 28 in Salem region (20 goods guards / 8 passenger guards). From the results of the present study it was found that the mean values for Perceived Loneliness scale for the passenger guards (2.98) and the goods guards (2.77) in Chennai Zone was relatively higher than other zones. The mean values for the Quality of Life Scale of the passenger guards (5.38) and the goods guards (5.67) in Madurai Zone is found to be relatively higher than the passenger guards and the goods guards from other zones. It was found that the level of perceived loneliness does not have an impact on the quality of life of these guards. It may be due to the slighter improvement in the working conditions of the guards; however they still faced work related problems because of lack of time for recreational activities. Results also showed that there is no significant difference in the perceived loneliness and the general mental health and well-being of the passenger guards and goods guards in this study. While the findings state that the goods/ passenger guards of the Southern Indian Railways (under study) experienced low level to moderate level of loneliness, there is also an indication that they are less satisfied with their quality of life.