"A Study in Depression in Women with Pre and Post Menopause Stages in Tribal Area "

Abstract

Depression has been found to be one of the main health concerns, especially in the case of women. A recent study by WHO found that depression will be the second important component in Global Burden of Disease (GBD) by the year 2020 in the case of women. Keeping this in view, the present study was corned out to see the depression levels and differences between women with pre and post menopause stages. The sample consists of 150 tribal women (84 in pre menopause stage and 66 in post menopause stage), with an age ranging from 30-60 years, taken from the Visakhapatnam agency area Andhra Pradesh. A vernacular translation (into Telugu) of Beck's Depression Inventory (1978) was administered to the sample. The results indicate that 23% of the tribal women were in 'Borderline Depression' or in 'Severe Depression' that needs clinical assistance. Significant difference was found between the pre and the post menopause stage groups with post menopause group being in borderline clinical depression. Results were also analyzed in terms of family type, period of menopause, husband type, body weight, health problems, hobbies and socio economic status.