[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v70y2024i6p1128-1137.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Depression during the COVID pandemic in La Manouba Governorate, Tunisia: A community survey

Author

Listed:
  • Mauro G Carta
  • Viviane Kovess
  • Amina Aissa
  • Amine Larnaout
  • Yosra Zgueb
  • Lubna A Alnasser
  • Maria Francesca Moro
  • Federica Sancassiani
  • Elisa Cantone
  • Salsabil Rjaibi
  • Nada Zoghlami
  • Mejdi Zid
  • Hajer Aounallah-Skhiri
  • Uta Ouali
Abstract
Background: It is difficult to quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health as many community surveys have limited quality, rely on screening tests to measure mental health conditions and distress, and often use convenience samples. Moreover, robust surveys come mainly from high-income countries. Aim: To measure the prevalence of depressive disorders with onset during the pandemic in a community of a Lower-Middle-income country (LMIC)-Tunisia. Methods: Clinical semi-structured face-to-face interviews were carried out during the pandemic (September–December 2021) by medical doctors among a representative sample of the general population in the governorate of La Manouba, Tunisia. Psychiatric diagnoses were established according to DSM-IV. Results: The prevalence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) started or recurred after the pandemic was 5.66%. The factors associated with MDD were loss of job and considerably diminished income due to the pandemic (OR = 2.1, 95% CI [1.5, 2.9]) and the perception of having the family’s financial situation below the Tunisian average (OR = 2.3, 95% CI [1.7, 3.2]). Female sex, marital status as separated/divorced, and having a COVID-19 infection were associated with MDD only in the overall sample and urban areas, but not in rural areas. Age and having loved ones who passed away due to COVID-19 were not associated with MDD. Conclusion: In Tunisia, the pandemic seems to have increased the risk of depression in people experiencing a precarious financial situation, also due to the pre-existing economic crisis. Specific local level factors, such as not establishing a rigid lockdown for an extended period, may have protected young people and allowed for better mourning in families suffering the loss of a loved one.

Suggested Citation

  • Mauro G Carta & Viviane Kovess & Amina Aissa & Amine Larnaout & Yosra Zgueb & Lubna A Alnasser & Maria Francesca Moro & Federica Sancassiani & Elisa Cantone & Salsabil Rjaibi & Nada Zoghlami & Mejdi Z, 2024. "Depression during the COVID pandemic in La Manouba Governorate, Tunisia: A community survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 70(6), pages 1128-1137, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:70:y:2024:i:6:p:1128-1137
    DOI: 10.1177/00207640241264678
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00207640241264678
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/00207640241264678?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jessica E. Lambert & Fatma Charfi & Uta Ouali & Amina Aissa & Joop de Jong, 2024. "Depression and Functioning during the COVID-19 Pandemic among Adults across Tunisia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 21(10), pages 1-13, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:70:y:2024:i:6:p:1128-1137. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.