Life as an actor, dancer or singer can look glamorous from the outside, but the work is often irregular, poorly paid and fiercely competitive. Those pressures can take a toll on mental health, especially in countries where support for artists is thin. A new study from Nepal suggests that having enough work matters more for artists’ wellbeing than how many hours they put in.

Researchers at Om Health Campus, the Kathmandu Institute of Child Health and the Manmohan Memorial Institute of Health Sciences surveyed 240 performing artists in Kathmandu. The findings appear in BMC Psychology. Participants included actors, theatre artists, dancers and singers, with an average age of about 28, and seven in ten were men.

The artists were recruited through personal networks in February and March 2025 and completed questionnaires about their background, working lives and habits. Mental wellbeing was measured with the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale, a widely used set of 14 questions about feeling optimistic, useful, relaxed and close to others. Scores can range from 14 to 70.

The average score was about 47. Using a cut off of 40, most artists, around 83%, were classed as having good mental wellbeing, while about one in six had poor wellbeing.

Several factors seemed linked to wellbeing at first, including weekly working hours, how often artists exercised, how satisfied they were with the amount of work available and whether they had access to resources or support. Once these were considered together, however, only satisfaction with work availability stood out.

Artists who felt neutral about how much work they could get had roughly two and a half times the odds of good wellbeing compared with those who were dissatisfied. Artists who were satisfied had almost four times the odds. Age, sex, income, education and years of experience made no clear difference.

The findings suggest that steady opportunities may protect artists’ mental health more than pay or long careers. The researchers argue that policies offering more stable work, fair contracts and better access to support services could help a group that has received little attention in Nepal.

The study has limits. Artists were found through word of mouth rather than random selection, so the sample may not reflect all performers in Nepal. The data come from a single point in time and rely on self reports, so the study cannot show that job satisfaction causes better wellbeing, and some confidence ranges were wide.

Mental health is a growing public health priority in Nepal, where national estimates suggest that between about 4% and 13% of people live with a mental disorder. This study is among the first to look at the wellbeing of the country’s performing artists and points to job security as a promising place to start.