Modeling risk factors for psychotic conditions and depression among adults in Namibia

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Date
2019
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Namibia
Abstract
Mental disorder is a growing global health concern. Mental disorder is categorized into anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, alcohol and drug dependency. Depression is ranked by the WHO as one of the largest contributors to global disability and suicide. There are only two affordable mental health services in Namibia, this leads to underdiagnosed and untreated cases of people suffering from depression and psychotic disorders. The overall objective of this study wasto identify socio-demographic factors associated with psychotic disorders and depression among adults in Namibia. The specific objectives of this study was to: estimate the prevalence of psychotic disorders and depression among adults in Namibia, construct an index of depression and identify factors influencing psychotic disorders and depression among adults in Namibia. This study adopted a quantitative cross-section study design, based on secondary data from the NDHS 2013. The study used a sample of 14234 participants, 9906 women aged 15 – 49 and 4328 men aged 15 – 64. Binary logistic regression was used to establish factors contributing to psychotic disorders. Factor analysis (Principal component analysis) was used to construct an index for depression and grouped the single factor into terciles. Then multinomial logistic regression was used to establish factors influencing depression. The results indicated that psychotic disorder had a prevalence of 13 percents while depression had 30 percents prevalence, in 2013. The psychotic disorder was found to be significantly associated with region, educational level, marital status and sex using binary logistic regression. Multinomial logistic regression results indicated that both mild and severe depression conditions were found to be significantly related to the region, smoking, marital status,sex, and employment status. Moreover, smoking cigarettes and place of residence were significantly associated with mild depression. There is a need for more mental disorder services to be promoted and rolled out to all health facilities in Namibia. It is also emphasized that there should be mental health education campaigns in primary schools and communities in the country. Marital relationships (marriages) should be promoted in society. Smoking should continue to be discouraged by increasing the price of cigarettes
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the master of science in biostatistics
Keywords
Mental disorder, Factors for psychotic conditions, Depression, Adults, Namibia, University of Namibia
Citation