Quality of life and associated factors among people With major depressive disorder attending follow-up Treatment at jimma medical center, southwest Ethiopia, 2022

Abstract

Background: Quality of life (QOL) has become an important treatment outcome measure for psychiatric interventions. However, there is little evidence regarding QOL and associated factors among people with major depressive disorder in Ethiopia. Objective: To assess the QOL and associated factors among people with major depressive disorder attending follow-up treatment at Jimma Medical Center, southwest Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted from September 01 to October 30, 2022, at JMC. A systematic random sampling technique was used to recruit a total of 320 participants. WHOQOL– Brief was used to assess patients’ QOL. The data were coded and entered into Epi-Data before being exported to SPSS for analysis. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were done to identify factors associated with QOL. The unstandardized B coefficient with a 95% confidence interval was calculated in the final model to identify independent predictors. The statistical significance was set at a p-value of less than 0.05. Result: A total of 314 study participants were interviewed with a response rate of 98.1%. The mean QOL score of participants for each domain (mean± SD) was: physical (44.17±11.39), psychological (42.56±10.05), social (42.04±12.65), and environmental (45.18±12.46). Depression severity is significantly associated with all domains of QOL. Low resilience and stigma are associated with poorer QOL scores in all domains except physical health. Also, two or more episodes and a low and medium wealth index are associated with all domains except the psychological domain. The onset of the illness is associated with poorer QOL scores in physical and environmental health domains and the presence of comorbid medical illness is significantly associated with physical and psychological domains. Poor social support is associated with poorer QOL scores in social and environmental domains. medication non-adherence and >10 years duration of illness significantly associated only with the physical health domain. Conclusion: The mean QOL score of people with MDD in each domain was low. The severity of depression among the participants strongly negatively predicted all domains. The aforementioned factors must be considered during assessing and treating patients with MDD to improve QOL.