Depression literacy and the related factors among a group of hospitals’ staff in Iran

Abstract

Background: Having a proper approach to depression requires having sufficient depressive literacy in the affected person. Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the level of depression literacy among hospital staff affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS) and to reveal the risk factors and knowledge gaps. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with 760 participants from university hospital staff at IUMS who were selected by a census method from April 2018 to December 2018. The data regarding depression signs and symptoms, anti-depressant drugs safety, non-medical treatment efficacy, etc. were collected using the Depression Literacy Questionnaire (D-Lit-22) and were analysed by SPSS-20, using the Pearson correlation coefficient, independent Samples t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) ( p ⩽ .05). Results: The mean age of participants was 35.33 ± 8.00 years old and 77.6% of them were female. The mean of the total score of depression literacy was 11.62 ± 3.53. Depression Literacy score was significantly higher in those with higher education levels, female gender and clinical staff ( p < .001). The inability to distinguish depression from other mental disorders as well as having wrong beliefs about suitable treatment approaches were the most considerable gaps in depression literacy. Conclusion: Male gender, low level of academic education and working in non-medical wards are the main factors associated with lower depression literacy in our studied sample. The poor differentiation of depression and wrong beliefs in depression treatment modalities were the largest gaps which require more educational programmes.