Screening for Depression Levels among Adult Female Resident at King Faisal National Guard Residential City in Jeddah (KFNGRCJ), From 18 Years Old and More, 2016

Background: Depression is one of the growing chronic diseases due to modernization and risk factors like poverty and unemployment. Almost 4.4% of the world population complaining of depression according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Depression need early screening and intervention to pick up the cases and prevent the complication associated with depression like suicide. Depressed patient cannot recognize the symptoms of depression although depression can affect the functioning and quality of life for the depressed patient. This is why screening is a necessary action also to measure the prevalence of depression in a community and to plan a public health care intervention supporting the community to cope with depression. Aim: The aim of this study is to build up a data base that could be utilized in the development of mental health program. Objectives: As there is a lack in the community based estimate of depression this study was conducted to assess the female’s depression prevalence and building a data base about depression status. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study design to measure the prevalence of depression among females 18 years and more, living at KFNGRCJ in Jeddah using the Arabic version of the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) tool. Result: Out of 727 distributed questionnaires, there were 443 included in the study showing the prevalence of depression was 12.4%. According to the severity the mild cases were 76.4%, the moderate cases were 20% and the sever cases were 3.6%. Conclusion: This study shows the magnitude of depression among female resident at KFNGRCJ in Jeddah is almost equal to the WHO estimates and near other studies done in Saudi Arabia. Single and divorced females are associated with depression.