Depression among an Immigrant Black Population of African Origin resident in Canada
Abstract Background Lately, there has been a surge of black African-born immigrants to Canada. It is critical to evaluate the extent to which depression has affected this vulnerable and understudied population. Methods Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) depression scale. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out using IBM SPPS. Results About half (51.7%, n = 91) of the participants met the criteria for depression. Female participants had a significantly higher PHQ-9 score (10.49±4.226) compared to males (8.96± 4.119). Unmarried participants had 27.979 times the odds of being depressed compared to those who were married. Those who had stayed in Canada for more than 10 years had 62.5 times higher odds of being depressed compared to those who had stayed for less than one year. Conclusions More than half of the participants exhibited significant depressive symptoms, suggesting an important mental health concern and the need for intervention.