Analysis of the Influencing Factors for Depression of Female Caregivers of Left-behind Children in Rural Area in China
摘要
Background The majority of caregivers of left-behind children in rural China are their mothers and grandmothers. The mental health of children's caregivers is one of the significant factors affecting the early development of children. Currently, there is a lack of research and comparison on the factors influencing depression among mothers and grandmothers of left-behind children in rural China. Objective To investigate the determinants of depression among female caregivers of left-behind children in rural China. Methods Data were collected from the baseline survey of the Home Visit Intervention Evaluation Segment of the Health and Development Promotion Program for Left-behind Children, conducted by UNICEF from April to July in 2018. The villages were selected through multi-stage stratified sampling. 1 or 2 towns were chosen as program towns in each of the 5 impoverished counties in 5 provinces. Villages in program towns were stratified by number of under-3-year-old children except Pingshan, where all villages from the program town were included. Three villages were randomly selected in each stratum as intervention villages, matched with control villages of similar number of under-3-year-old children, socioeconomic status and the distance from county. Ultimately 113 villages in 27 towns were included in the survey. This study focused on the mothers and grandmothers of left-behind children under 3. Questionnaire was used to collect the data of left-behind children under 3 years old and their main caregivers participating in the survey, and Zung Self-rating Depression Scale (ZSDS) was used to assess the depression status of caregivers. Multivariate Logistic regression was used to analyze the determinants of depression in the main caregivers of left-behind children. Results A total of 728 subjects were included in this study, including 282 mothers and 446 grandmothers. The overall incidence of depressive symptoms was 32.8% (239/728) . The prevalence of depression a