Comparison of rural and urban SOCIAL environement for development of depression among pregnant women in Sindh, Pakistan

Abstract

Background and Aims:Social environemnt is closely related to Mental health.We examined the role of various social relations and conditions variables in the determination of depression among urban and rural pregnant women in Pakistan.Methods:Both qualitative and qunatitative method was employed. 292 pregant women in urban and 375 pregnant women in rural areas of the province of Sindh Pakistan were included in the study. Social condition variables included socioecnomic status, illness and work related concerns, environmental issues and social problems. Social relations included relations with husband, in-laws, children and parents family. These were given scores when it applied to a situation of the women. Simultaneously, hassles related to pregnancy were also inquired from each women. Concurrently, in a blind set-up, translated and validated Center for Epidemiological Scale for Depression (CES-D) was administered. In multivariate regression linear analysis, scores of social relations and social condition variables were related with the scores of CES-D scores.Results:Social context vary in urban and rural areas. There is high prevalence of depression among pregnant women in urban (39%) and rural (64%) areas of Pakistan. Social relations are more important in determining depression in urban areas, while social conditions have stronger association with depression in rural areas of Pakistan.Conclusions:Social environment has major contribution for the development of depression among pregnant women (52% variance in Urban and 40% variance in rural areas). Social environmental variables vary with the social context and its importance varies for the women of urban and rural areas.