Demographic and Socioeconomic Determinants of Mental Health Disorder in Adult Residents of Addis Ababa
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Date
2014-06
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Addis Ababa university
Abstract
Rapid urbanization and high population growth is the most prominent phenomena of the
contemporary world particularly in the developing countries. As the urbanization process of the
third world countries is attributable with complex socio-economic and demographic adversities
there is a need to elicit the different aspects of the unhealthy urbanization. Mental health is one of
the most pressing development issues particularly in association with rapid growth of
urbanization.
Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia is the third fast growing cities of the world in terms of physical
expansion and demographic facts. These phenomena coupled with lack of institutional capacity in
the provisions of basic social services create several socio-economic calamities of which the
prominent one is the prevalence of mental health disorder and psychological distress. Therefore,
this cross-sectional survey was intended to analyze and describe the demographic and socioeconomic
determinants of mental health illness and psychological distress among adult residents
of the city.
In order to address this issue, the methods utilized were that three sub cities of the capital were
selected targeting the mental health clinics of their respective health centers. The interview was
conducted by psychiatric nurses for purposively selected patients (n=300) who were diagnosed
for mental health disorders. The collected demographic and socioeconomic data were entered in
SPSS-20 window software and analyzed using descriptive and econometric methods. The
dichotomous variables of mental illness and relevant demographic and socioeconomic predictors
were cross tabulated to measure association using chi-square tests at significant level 0.05.
Logistic regression model was also utilized and their odd ration (OR) is identified to measure the
degree of association between the occurrence of mental illness and demographic-socioeconomic
determinants controlling level of urbanization.
The respondents were diagnosed for seven categories of mental illnesses; depression was the
modal (35%) mental disorder followed by general anxiety disorder (14%) and any psychological
disorder (10%). Of all the total patients (n=300) 68% were female and the mean age was 29-39
yrs. 67% of the respondents were below high school level and non-married and about 62% of
them responded as they have lived for less than 5 yrs in the city. Regarding socioeconomic
determinants, about 77% of the respondents live in houses that are neither theirs nor rented from
the government and and about 67% of them earn monthly income less than or equal to 600 birr.
The occurrence of mental illness is found to be associated with most demography and
Demographic and Socioeconomic Determinants of Mental Health Disorder in Adult Residents of Addis Ababa
socioeconomic determinants at 0.05 significant levels regardless of the level of urbanization
except religion and family size.
According to the findings partly discussed above, we can conclude that the prevalence of mental
illnesses is determined by age, education level, years in the city, individual's role in the family and
marital status. MHO is more prevalent among young adults than old adults, among those who are
below high schools and the non-married one and lower socioeconomic status is found to increase
the vulnerability to different mental health disorders. The occurrence of mental illness in the adult
residents is determined by their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics than the level of
urbanization of the city.
Key words
Mental Health, Urban Livelihood, Adult Residents, Cross-Sectional Survey, Socioeconomic
Determinants.
Description
Keywords
Mental Health;, Urban Livelihood;Adult Residents;Cross-Sectional Survey;Socioeconomic Determinants