The beginning of this year, 2020, has been a very challenging one as all over the world, we were caught right in the midst of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. This pandemic is a serious global health threat, and its devastating effects are felt in all aspects of life. The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that as of 17th May 2020, we have 4,534,731 confirmed cases of COVID-19, and 307,537 deaths in total, throughout the world. In the WHO Western Pacific region, there were 167,546 confirmed cases, and 6,730 deaths while in the WHO Southeast Region, the COVID-19 accounted for a total of 136,314 confirmed cases, and 4,425 deaths (1). In Malaysia, the figure stood, thus far, at 6,872 confirmed cases, and 114 deaths while in Indonesia, there were 17,514 confirmed cases, and 1,148 deaths (2). Different countries are at different phases of this pandemic. While the curve may have flattened in some countries, there might still be spikes here and there. The COVID-19 pandemic has not disappeared; it is here to stay!
Background:Past research evidenced that the individuals from low socio economic status (SES) families were having a higher prevalence of mental health problems when compared to higher income families. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prevalence of the depressive symptoms among parents by socio-demographics profile: age, number of children living in a household, marital age, and household income.
Objective:The purpose of this study also aims to examine other variables that correlate to the symptoms.
Methods:A total of 205 participants consisting of fathers and mothers from four People’s Housing Projects (PHP) around Kuala Lumpur completed a self-report questionnaire which included a demographic profile form, Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), Parenting Daily Hassle Scale (PDHS) and Social Support Scale were used in order to measure all the variables that possibly added to the depressive symptoms among the parents. Correlation analyses were used to assess the relative significance of all the variables tested in this study.
Results:40.4% of the respondents reported a mild depression whilst another 4.4% reported a moderate level of depressive symptoms and 2.4% of them reported a severe level. The majority of the respondents reported a moderate to a high level of daily hassles and reported that their spouses were their supporters in any difficult situation. From the correlation analysis, only three variables;the household income, parenting daily hassles score and social support found the significance correlation to the depressive symptoms among the low SES parents in Kuala Lumpur.
Conclusion:The prevalence of the depressive symptoms among the low SES and the correlated variables were determined. Further research on intervention to educate parents is needed to react to the present findings and to reduce the transmission risk to the children as well as to develop a healthy nation.