Washington University in St. Louis, Brown School of Social Work, International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD), One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.
BMC Public Health. 2020 Nov 25;20(1):1792. doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-09937-2.
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), adolescent girls and young women are three times more likely than boys to have depressive disorders. Understanding adolescents' unique and common vulnerabilities and protective factors is essential for the development of appropriate interventions and programming focused on child and adolescent mental health. This paper examines the prevalence and predictors of depressive symptoms among high school adolescent girls in southern Uganda.
Baseline data from a longitudinal cluster randomized study involving 1260 adolescent girls (14-17 years), recruited from 47 secondary schools were utilized. Depressive symptoms were estimated using the 21-item Beck's Depression Inventory. Hierarchical linear regression modelling was utilized to estimate key predictors of depressive symptoms among adolescent girls.
Of the total sample, 16.35% (n = 206) reported severe depressive symptoms and almost one in every three adolescent girls interviewed (29.68%, n = 374) reported moderate symptoms. These symptoms were more prevalent among older adolescents (16 years and above). In addition, family relationships, social support, as well as measures of psychological wellbeing (self-concept and self-esteem) were all associated with lower levels of depressive symptoms. Hopelessness was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms among adolescent girls.
Findings from this study indicate a high prevalence of depressive symptoms, especially among older adolescent girls. In addition, family support factors and adolescents' psychological wellbeing were associated with low levels of depressive symptoms -pointing to the need to strengthen family functioning and adolescent's psychological wellbeing to mitigate risks. Taken together, findings support increasing calls for early screening and detection of depressive symptoms to facilitate timely referral to care and treatment. Findings may also inform the development and incorporation of gender-specific mental health components in programming targeting adolescent girls, in low-resource communities in SSA.
This trial was prospectively registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (registration number: NCT03307226 ) on 11 October 2017.
在撒哈拉以南非洲（SSA），青少年女孩和年轻女性患抑郁症的可能性是男孩的三倍。了解青少年独特和共同的脆弱性和保护因素对于制定针对儿童和青少年心理健康的适当干预措施和方案至关重要。本文研究了乌干达南部高中少女抑郁症状的患病率和预测因素。
利用来自 47 所中学的 1260 名青少年女孩（14-17 岁）的纵向聚类随机研究的基线数据。使用 21 项贝克抑郁量表评估抑郁症状。利用分层线性回归模型来估计少女抑郁症状的主要预测因素。
在总样本中，16.35%（n=206）报告有严重抑郁症状，几乎每三名接受采访的少女中就有一名（29.68%，n=374）报告有中度症状。这些症状在年龄较大的青少年（16 岁及以上）中更为普遍。此外，家庭关系、社会支持以及心理健康指标（自我概念和自尊）都与较低水平的抑郁症状相关。绝望与少女抑郁症状水平较高相关。
本研究结果表明，抑郁症状的患病率很高，尤其是在年龄较大的少女中。此外，家庭支持因素和青少年的心理健康与较低水平的抑郁症状相关，这表明需要加强家庭功能和青少年的心理健康，以降低风险。综上所述，研究结果支持增加对抑郁症状的早期筛查和检测，以促进及时转介至护理和治疗。研究结果还可能为制定和纳入针对撒哈拉以南非洲资源匮乏社区的少女特定的精神卫生内容提供信息。
本试验于 2017 年 10 月 11 日在 ClinicalTrials.gov（注册号：NCT03307226）进行了前瞻性注册。
