Open AccessDEPRESSION AND ITS ASSOCIATED FACTORS: A STUDY ON CAREGIVERS OF PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS
Author(s) -
Nomita Sohail,
Shiraz Hussain,
Siddique Kakar,
Sana Khan,
Mohsin Alimudin,
Muhammad Kamran,
Sohail Ali
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
pakistan armed forces medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2411-8842
pISSN - 0030-9648
DOI - 10.51253/pafmj.v6i6.2971
Subject(s) - depression (economics) , psychiatry , medicine , anxiety , outpatient clinic , hospital anxiety and depression scale , mini international neuropsychiatric interview , population , psychiatric hospital , environmental health , economics , macroeconomics
Objective: To determine the frequency and association of depression among caregivers of psychiatric patients.
Study Design: Cross-sectional study.
Study place and duration: Outpatient Department of a Tertiary Care Hospital, Rawalpindi, from Sep 2016 to Apr 2017.
Methodology: A total of 200 caregivers of psychiatric patients were included in this study. Each caregiver was interviewed by a consultant psychiatrist to measure the frequency of depression according to International Classification of Disease-10 (ICD10) criteria and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score of >8. Socio-demographic factors were associated with presence of depression by using chi-square test.
Results: The mean age observed was 35.36 ± 8.39 years. There were 84 (42%) males and 116 (58%) females. Depression was found in 95 (47.5%) caregivers of psychiatric patients in our analysis. Female gender, low socio-economic status and type of psychiatric illness had significant relationship with presence of depression among our target population.
Conclusion: Depression was a highly common undiagnosed entity among the caregivers of psychiatric patients. Female caregivers or caregivers with low socio-economic status should be screened especially for depression in addition to caregivers of patients suffering from psychotic illness.