Introduction: Previous studies have found that unwed pregnant teenagers have a variety of psychological issues such as loss of self-confidence, emotional stress, fear, worry, anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts. In addition, the society’s negative perception has made these teenagers to be alienated and mocked by the community and also by their own family members. Thus, this research aims to identify the mental health state and also to deeply explore on these teenagers’ emotional and psychological conditions. Methods: This research adopts qualitative phenomeno- logical research design. Four residents of a Protection Centre in Johor Bahru have been selected through purposive sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and the data has been transcribed and analysed using thematic content analysis method. Results: Results obtained show that the teenagers’ mental health symptoms are at moderate to severe states. They also show signs of emotional disturbance such as depression, seclusion, difficulty in sleeping, lips dry, easy to sweat, uncontrolled emotion, no appetite, headache, anxiety or worry, negative thoughts and not energetic. Apart from these, they also experience unstable emotional and psychological situations such as sadness, anger, fear, shock, stress and guilt due to shaming their families. Conclusion: This study is expected to pro- vide an early explanation on mental health among Muslim unwed pregnant teenagers. Therefore, the appropriate methods to use in addressing their emotional and psychological states need to be explored.
INTRODUCTION: Loneliness has long been known to have strong association with depression. The relationship between loneliness and depression, however, has been associated with other risk factors including social support. The aim of this paper is to describe the role of social support in the association between loneliness and depression.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study examined the mediating effects of social support among 161 community-based elderly in agricultural settlement of a rural area in Sungai Tengi, Malaysia. Subjects were investigated with De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale, Geriatric Depression Scale and Medical Outcome Survey Social Support Survey. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, linear and hierarchical regression.
RESULTS: Results indicated that social support partially mediated the relationship between loneliness and depression.
DISCUSSION: This suggests that social support affects the linear association between loneliness and depression in the elderly.
KEYWORDS: depression; elderly; loneliness; rural community; social support
Study site; FELDA Sungai Tengi, Selangor, Malaysia
Device, Questionnaire & Scale: De Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale; Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15): Medical Outcome Survey Social Support Survey