Prevalence of depression and associated factors among secondary school teachers in Medina region, Saudi Arabia

Background: Depression is one of the most common psychiatric conditions seen in primary health care clinics. On the other hand, teaching is one of the most stressful jobs. Objective: The aim was to estimate the prevalence and risk factors of depression among secondary school teachers in the Medina region. Subjects and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on a representative sample of secondary school teachers of both genders in the Medina region. A multistage cluster sample technique was implemented to recruit the participants. The data were collected using a self-administered Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) depression questionnaire. Results: The study included 297 teachers. More than half of them (54.2%) were males and the vast majority (97.6%) were Saudis. Major depression, based on PHQ-9 depression questionnaire was reported among 8.4% of the participants, whereas minor depression was reported among 14.1% of them. Among the studied habitual factors, the smoking of Shisha and nonpracticing of physical exercise were significantly associated with depression among teachers. Regarding obstetric and gynecological factors, female teachers with a history of postnatal depression were more likely to have major and minor depression features than those without such history. Conclusion: Depression is a common health problem among secondary school teachers in Medina region affecting almost one quarter of them. Familial instability, shisha smoking, physical inactivity, heavy teaching load, and deficiency of educational competencies are strongly correlated with depression. Further studies are needed to explore the extent of the problem among teachers at different levels of teaching across the kingdom.