IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i12p7090-d835228.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Evaluating the Prevalence and Predictors of Moderate to Severe Depression in Fort McMurray, Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Gloria Obuobi-Donkor

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Ejemai Eboreime

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Reham Shalaby

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Belinda Agyapong

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada
    Global Psychological E-Health Foundation, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Folajinmi Oluwasina

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Medard Adu

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Ernest Owusu

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Wanying Mao

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada)

  • Vincent I. O. Agyapong

    (Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2B7, Canada
    QEII Health Sciences Centre, Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 2E2, Canada)

Abstract

Background: The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has produced adverse health consequences, including mental health consequences. Studies indicate that residents of Fort McMurray, a community which has experienced trauma from flooding and wildfires in the past, may be more vulnerable to the mental health effects of the pandemic. Objective: This study aimed to examine the prevalence and predictors of likely Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) among residents of Fort McMurray during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional approach was adopted utilizing an online survey questionnaire to gather sociodemographic data, COVID-19 related data, and clinical information, including likely MDD using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale, from the residents of Fort McMurray between the period of 24 April to 2 June 2021. Results: Overall, 186 individuals completed the survey out of 249 residents who accessed the online survey, yielding a completion rate of 74.7%. The prevalence of likely MDD among respondents was 45%. Respondents willing to receive mental health counselling were five times more likely to experience MDD during the COVID-19 pandemic (OR = 5.48; 95% CI: 1.95–15.40). Respondents with a history of depression were nearly five folds more likely to report MDD during the era of the pandemic than residents without a history of depression (OR = 4.64; 95% CI: 1.49–14.44). Similarly, respondents with a history of taking hypnotics (sleeping tablets) were nearly six-fold more likely to express MDD than respondents with no history of receiving sleeping tablets (OR = 5.72; 95% CI: 1.08–30.30). Finally, respondents who reported receiving only partial support from the employer had three times higher odds of having likely MDD than those who received absolute support from the employer (OR = 3.50; 95% CI: 1.24–9.82). Conclusion: In addition to the effect of the pandemic and other measures taken to curb the psychopathological impact of the pandemic, policymakers need to implement policies to manage individuals with preexisting mental health conditions and provide strong employer support.

Suggested Citation

  • Gloria Obuobi-Donkor & Ejemai Eboreime & Reham Shalaby & Belinda Agyapong & Folajinmi Oluwasina & Medard Adu & Ernest Owusu & Wanying Mao & Vincent I. O. Agyapong, 2022. "Evaluating the Prevalence and Predictors of Moderate to Severe Depression in Fort McMurray, Canada during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-15, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7090-:d:835228
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7090/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/12/7090/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Md Akhtarul Islam & Sutapa Dey Barna & Hasin Raihan & Md Nafiul Alam Khan & Md Tanvir Hossain, 2020. "Depression and anxiety among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: A web-based cross-sectional survey," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(8), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Vincent I. O. Agyapong & Reham Shalaby & Marianne Hrabok & Wesley Vuong & Jasmine M. Noble & April Gusnowski & Kelly Mrklas & Daniel Li & Mark Snaterse & Shireen Surood & Bo Cao & Xin-Min Li & Russell, 2021. "Mental Health Outreach via Supportive Text Messages during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Improved Mental Health and Reduced Suicidal Ideation after Six Weeks in Subscribers of Text4Hope Compared to a Control," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-13, February.
    3. Medard Kofi Adu & Lauren J. Wallace & Kwabena F. Lartey & Joshua Arthur & Kenneth Fosu Oteng & Samuel Dwomoh & Ruth Owusu-Antwi & Rita Larsen-Reindorf & Vincent I. O. Agyapong, 2021. "Prevalence and Correlates of Likely Major Depressive Disorder among the Adult Population in Ghana during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-19, July.
    4. Selçuk Özdin & Şükriye Bayrak Özdin, 2020. "Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: The importance of gender," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(5), pages 504-511, August.
    5. Yiming Liang & Kankan Wu & Yongjie Zhou & Xin Huang & Yueyue Zhou & Zhengkui Liu, 2020. "Mental Health in Frontline Medical Workers during the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease Epidemic in China: A Comparison with the General Population," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(18), pages 1-12, September.
    6. Reham Shalaby & Medard K. Adu & Taelina Andreychuk & Ejemai Eboreime & April Gusnowski & Wesley Vuong & Shireen Surood & Andrew J. Greenshaw & Vincent I. O. Agyapong, 2021. "Prevalence, Demographic, and Clinical Correlates of Likely PTSD in Subscribers of Text4Hope during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-15, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. José A. García-Berná & Raimel Sobrino-Duque & Juan M. Carrillo de Gea & Joaquín Nicolás & José L. Fernández-Alemán, 2022. "Automated Workflow for Usability Audits in the PHR Realm," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-30, July.
    2. Nnamdi Nkire & Reham Shalaby & Gloria Obuobi-Donkor & Belinda Agyapong & Ejemai Eboreime & Vincent I. O. Agyapong, 2023. "Assessing Resilience and Its Correlates among Residents of Fort McMurray during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(12), pages 1-13, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Medard Kofi Adu & Lauren J. Wallace & Kwabena F. Lartey & Joshua Arthur & Kenneth Fosu Oteng & Samuel Dwomoh & Ruth Owusu-Antwi & Rita Larsen-Reindorf & Vincent I. O. Agyapong, 2021. "Prevalence and Correlates of Likely Major Depressive Disorder among the Adult Population in Ghana during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-19, July.
    2. Emilijus Žilinskas & Giedrė Žulpaitė & Kristijonas Puteikis & Rima Viliūnienė, 2021. "Mental Health among Higher Education Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Survey from Lithuania," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-14, December.
    3. Ahmed Yassin & Abdel-Hameed Al-Mistarehi & Khalid El-Salem & Reema A. Karasneh & Sayer Al-Azzam & Aref A. Qarqash & Aws G. Khasawneh & Anas M. Zein Alaabdin & Ola Soudah, 2022. "Prevalence Estimates and Risk Factors of Anxiety among Healthcare Workers in Jordan over One Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-20, February.
    4. Carlos Laranjeira & Maria Anjos Dixe & Olga Valentim & Zaida Charepe & Ana Querido, 2021. "Mental Health and Psychological Impact during COVID-19 Pandemic: An Online Survey of Portuguese Higher Education Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Inessa Love & Boris Nikolaev & Chandra Dhakal, 2024. "The well-being of women entrepreneurs: the role of gender inequality and gender roles," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(1), pages 325-352, January.
    6. Yi Ding & Jie Yang & Tingting Ji & Yongyu Guo, 2021. "Women Suffered More Emotional and Life Distress than Men during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Pathogen Disgust Sensitivity," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(16), pages 1-9, August.
    7. Shuangshuang Xin & Xiujie Ma, 2023. "Mechanisms of Physical Exercise Effects on Anxiety in Older Adults during the COVID-19 Lockdown: An Analysis of the Mediating Role of Psychological Resilience and the Moderating Role of Media Exposure," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(4), pages 1-15, February.
    8. Zhou, Min & Guo, Wei, 2021. "Social factors and worry associated with COVID-19: Evidence from a large survey in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    9. Bentham Liang Sen Teh & Jin Kiat Ang & Eugene Boon Yau Koh & Nicholas Tze Ping Pang, 2023. "Psychological Resilience and Coping Strategies with Anxiety among Malaysian Medical Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-16, January.
    10. Tahia Anan Dhira & Mahir A Rahman & Abdur Razzaque Sarker & Jeenat Mehareen, 2021. "Validity and reliability of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) among university students of Bangladesh," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(12), pages 1-16, December.
    11. Agnieszka Lasota, 2023. "Crisis Experience and Purpose in Life in Men and Women: The Mediating Effect of Gratitude and Fear of COVID-19," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(15), pages 1-14, August.
    12. Gülsen Erden & Asil Ali Özdoğru & Sami Çoksan & Hale Ögel-Balaban & Yakup Azak & İlkiz Altınoğlu-Dikmeer & Aysun Ergül-Topçu & Yeşim Yasak & Gözde Kıral-Uçar & Seda Oktay & Pelin Karaca-Dinç & Ezgi Di, 2022. "Social Contact, Academic Satisfaction, COVID-19 Knowledge, and Subjective Well-being Among Students at Turkish Universities: a Nine-University Sample," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(4), pages 2017-2039, August.
    13. Chiara Consiglio & Nicoletta Massa & Valentina Sommovigo & Luigi Fusco, 2023. "Techno-Stress Creators, Burnout and Psychological Health among Remote Workers during the Pandemic: The Moderating Role of E-Work Self-Efficacy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-23, November.
    14. Jo Daniels & Hannah Rettie, 2022. "The Mental Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Second Wave on Shielders and Their Family Members," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-17, June.
    15. Anca Popa & Aurelia-Ioana Chereji & Monica Angelica Dodu & Ioan Chereji & Andreea Fitero & Cristian Marius Daina & Lucia Georgeta Daina & Dana Badau & Daniela Carmen Neculoiu & Carmen Domnariu, 2022. "The Impact of Changes regarding Working Circumstances during COVID-19 Pandemic upon Patients Evaluated for Thyroid Dysfunction," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-11, August.
    16. Dana Alonzo & Marciana Popescu, 2022. "A qualitative examination of the mental health impact of Covid-19 in marginalized communities in Guatemala: The Covid Care Calls survey," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 68(7), pages 1435-1444, November.
    17. Rania Wehbe & Isam Shahrour, 2021. "Assessment and Improvement of Anti-COVID-19 Measures in Higher Education Establishments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-21, May.
    18. Thomas Volken & Annina Zysset & Simone Amendola & Anthony Klein Swormink & Marion Huber & Agnes von Wyl & Julia Dratva, 2021. "Depressive Symptoms in Swiss University Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Their Correlates," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    19. Snow Yunni Lin & Jian Han Tan & Brenda Xian Hui Tay & John Paul Chern Shwen Koh & Lei Siew & Marcus Cher Hean Teo & Jeremy Yen Chin Tan & Saima Hilal, 2022. "Exploring the Socio-Demographic and Psychosocial Factors That Enhance Resilience in the COVID-19 Crisis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-11, October.
    20. Williams, Shanna & Bruer, Kaila C. & Evans, Angela D. & Price, Heather L., 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on Canadian child maltreatment workers," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:12:p:7090-:d:835228. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.