Relationship between Substance Use Disorder and Clinical Depression among Women in Rehabilitation Centres in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, the prevalence of clinical depression among women is higher than that of males. Kenya is the fourth country in Africa with the highest number of people suffering from depression. Among this population in Kenya, clinical depression affects more women than men. However, few local studies have explored whether clinical depression is linked to substance use disorder among women in Kenya. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between substance disorder and clinical depression among women in rehabilitation centres in Nairobi County, Kenya. Three specific objectives guided this study: to determine the level of clinical depression in women; to examine the level of substance use disorder in women and to evaluate the relationship between clinical depression and substance use disorder among women in rehabilitation centres. This study used a descriptive research design with 12 rehabilitation centres and 217 participants. The Patient Health Questionnaire was used to assess incidences of clinical depression. The ASSIST test was used to measure substance use disorder. The findings indicated that alcohol was the most substance used by majority of the respondents followed by cannabis and tobacco. The results further indicated that there was a strong linear correlation between clinical depression and substance use disorder. In addition, results of hypothesis testing showed that the relationship between clinical depression and substance use disorder showed positive and linear significant relationship (β=0.262, T-value =1.232, p=0.002<0.05). The study concluded that family instability factors were a catalyst to many women in rehabilitation centers succumbing to clinical depression. It was concluded that most of the respondents had a moderate risk of health and other problems associated with current substance use. The study recommended to health experts that early identification and treatment of women under depressive symptoms may help in preventing moderate and severe depression among women in rehabilitation centres. The study further recommends that stakeholders in mental health and substance abuse, NGOs and other stakeholders should put effort in curbing, regulating and controlling the proliferation of cheap alcoholic beverages.