Prevalence of depression of girls in Thanyapom Foster Home.

Abstract

Objective : To study the prevalence and factors related to depression of girls in Thanyaporn Foster Home.

Research design : Quantitative methods.

Subjects : Ninety-seven girls in Thanyaporn Foster Home were the subjects in this study.

Methods : A questionnaire to elicit personal data and the CES-D (Center for epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) were used for data collection which were analyzed by means of descriptive statistics chi-square test, Fisher's exact test.

Results : The prevalence of depression in girls at Thanyaporn Foster Home for Girls was 60.8 %. The factors related to depression were found to be education. Those who were attending elementary schools or lower level institutions were found to be more depression than those in secondary schools. The relation between them was statistically significant, (p < 0.05).

Conclusion : The result of the study shows that children living in the foster home for girls had depression more than the others. Therefore, the mental health of those girls should be improved, including arranging training programs or seminars on children's mental health for caregivers to reduce the degrees of violence that may occur.