Socio-demographic Risk Factors in Depression among the Clergy in Nigeria

Background: Depression poses a huge challenge on personal, professional, and social life of individuals. Studies on the prevalence of depression have largely been on the general population, using socio-demographic variables to explain it’s outcome. The clergy constitutes a special group of trained professionals on the vocation of care-giving, problem solving and spiritual healing. Information is scanty on the prevalence of depression among them and the contribution of socio-demographic risk factors on their mental health.

Objectives: This study seeks to determine the prevalence of depression among the clergy and impact of socio-demographic variables on their mental health.

Methods: 84 pastors of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church in southern Nigeria, were evaluated for depression using the 9-item patients health questionnaire (PHQ-9), which assesses vulnerability to depression, and a 27 item demographic and risk factor questionnaire which assessed the demographic variables. Using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS-25.0), cross tabulation of variables of interest were obtained using x2 and t-test. Level of correlation of variables with depression was done by a bivariate correlation analysis.

Results: Out of the 84 pastors who consented to the study, 16 (19%) had depression, mean age of participants was 43.6yr, 72 (85.7%) were currently married, all the participants were educated, the mean year of service was 10 years and 45% had at least 3 children. There was no significant correlation between the socio-demographic variables and depression.

Conclusion: The study revealed a 19% prevalence rate for depression among the clergy and that the socio-demographic variables of age, marital status, level of education, number of children and year of service impacted positively on the mental health of the clergy.