Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety among Adolescent Mothers and Access to Counseling in Western Kenya

Purpose: There is still paucity of research exploring the prevalence of depression and anxiety among adolescent mothers aged 10-19 years and availability and access of support services in Kenya. This study therefore sought to (1) determine the prevalence of depression and anxiety and (2) examine access to counselling for depression and anxiety among adolescent mothers in Western Kenya during antenatal period. Method: This was a cross-sectional design with a convergent parallel mixed approach conducted between January and August 2023 among a sample of 438 adolescent mothers aged 10-19 years attending maternal health services at level four health facilities in Kakamega, Kisumu and Siaya Counties in Western Kenya. Lottery method was used to select counties included in the study. On the other hand, participants were sequentially selected from out-patient departments, child welfare clinics, and postnatal wards and were screened for depression using Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and General anxiety disorder (GAD-7) for anxiety. Cut-off points of 5 was used to identify participants with symptoms for both depression and anxiety. Results: Out of 423 adolescent mothers, who completed the PHQ-9 screening tool, 398 (94.1%) had experienced depression while 424 (100%) adolescent mothers who completed GAD-7 screening tool experienced anxiety at varying degrees. Furthermore, 230 (54.2%) experienced severe anxiety followed by 163 (40.4%) who experienced moderate anxiety. Depression was more common among 15-19 age-group (n=349, 82.5%); those who depended on parents or guardians for financial support (n=223, 52.7%) and para 1 (n=328, 77.5%). In addition, religion, parity, source of financial support, education level were found to significantly contribute to both depression and anxiety as shown by p < 0.05. Out of 438 respondents, only 146 (33.3%, p =0.246) received counseling on depression and anxiety. Recommendations: Findings of this study, highlight pertinent need for inclusion of mental health care for adolescent mothers in the antenatal care policy. In addition, it recommends incorporation of screening for depression and anxiety, as well as counseling for adolescent mothers into the routine antenatal care and postnatal care programs so as to enhance the overall well-being of adolescent mothers.