Depression in Mothers of Children with Mental Retardation Reporting at Tertiary Care Hospital
Keywords:
Depression, mothers, children, mental retardationAbstract
Objective:
To determine prevalence of depression in mothers of children with mental retardation using the ICD-10 criteria for depression.
Material & Method:
This cross-sectional study was conducted at Psychiatry outpatient Department, Civil Hospital Karachi. Three hundred twenty-three mothers were included in the study and interviewed between the periods of October 2014 to April 2015. Mothers of children with mental retardation were assessed for depressive disorder using ICD-10criteria for depression. Data was entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16. P value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
Results:
Number of depressed mothers who have mentally retarded child was more as compared to non-depressed mothers. The association of depression to their marital status was found to be significant (p-value 0.009) revealing that single parenting mothers were more vulnerable to depression as compared to children living with both parents. Most of the depressed mothers were more educated (p-value 0.00) and were mostly graduates, and had their child in the older age group that is 9 to 12 years (p-value 0.03) and had a female child. (Table 2) effected (p-value 0.00). The association of maternal age and socioeconomic status with depression was found to be insignificant (p-value 0.43 and 0.37 respectively.
Conclusion:
This study reveals a high prevalence of depression in mothers of mentally retarded children and highlights the need for help. Strategy should be reinforced in the clinical settings to screen such mothers for Depression.
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