Health survey on anxiety, depression, and stress in Afghanistan: a large-scale cross-sectional study amid ongoing challenges

Tools

Neyazi, A, Mohammadi, AQ, Razaqi, N, Rahimi, BA, Sifat, S, Rahimy, N, Tareen, Z, Mehmood, Q, Satapathy, P and Griffiths, MD ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-6524, 2024. Health survey on anxiety, depression, and stress in Afghanistan: a large-scale cross-sectional study amid ongoing challenges. Discover Mental Health, 4: 38. ISSN 2731-4383

Preview

Text
2224264_Griffiths.pdf - Published version
Download (829kB) | Preview

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s44192-024-00090-5

Abstract

Background
One of the most significant events in recent Afghan history is the rise of the Taliban and the war that followed, which had profound impacts on the lives of Afghans. The present study examined the mental health of Afghans living under the Taliban government.

Methods
Between June 5, 2023 and February 12, 2024, a cross-sectional study was conducted among the Afghan population in three key regions of Afghanistan. Data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire. The 21-item Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale (DASS-21) was utilized to assess depression, anxiety and stress of the Afghan population. Ethical permission for this study was granted by the Afghanistan Center for Epidemiological Studies (ACES). Logistic regression models were employed to explore the relationship between socio-demographic characteristics and depression, anxiety, and stress among 2,698 participants.

Results
The prevalence of depression was 72.05%, anxiety was 71.94%, and stress was 66.49%. Multiple regression analysis indicated that gender (being female), economic status (being poor), residency (living in rural areas), education level (being illiterate), being a cigarette smoker, and having experienced a bad event during the past month were significantly associated with depression, anxiety and stress.

Conclusion
The findings of the present study show very high levels of anxiety, depression, and stress, most likely reflecting the profound impact of recent political, social, and economic changes. Notably, a significant majority of participants, particularly females and individuals above 35 years of age, reported severe to extremely severe mental health symptoms. The mental health crisis in Afghanistan is a complex and urgent issue that requires a comprehensive and compassionate response.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	Discover Mental Health
Creators:	Neyazi, A., Mohammadi, A.Q., Razaqi, N., Rahimi, B.A., Sifat, S., Rahimy, N., Tareen, Z., Mehmood, Q., Satapathy, P. and Griffiths, M.D.
Publisher:	Springer
Date:	20 September 2024
Volume:	4
ISSN:	2731-4383
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1007/s44192-024-00090-5 DOI 2224264 Other
Rights:	© The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
Divisions:	Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by:	Melissa Cornwell
Date Added:	24 Sep 2024 09:48
Last Modified:	24 Sep 2024 09:48
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/52294