Severity of Depression among Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adolescents in Selected Public Primary Schools in Nairobi County, Kenya

Stellah M. Osoro, Ph.D. Candidate in Clinical Psychology; Alice Munene, Psy.D. & Mary Mogute, PhD., Daystar University.

Abstract

Depression is a siginificant public health problem in the Unites States, affecting approximately 12.5% of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) adolescents (Bozzay, et al., 2017). According to Kim et al. (2017), DHH was one of the common disorders with prevalences of 22.7% worldwide. The objective of this study was to investigate the severity of depression among DHH adolescents in selected schools in Nairobi County, Kenya. The 64 perticipants aged 14-20 were recruited for the study using Socio-Demographic Questionnaire (SDQ) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II). In addition, the frequency of severe depression among participants aged 14-16 was found to me more at 54.7%. Further, as regards gender distribution, the frequency of severe depression was higher among female participants at 37.1%. It was also noted to be higher among participants, whose level of study was in class three at 19.4%, and participants who lived with both parents at 33.3%, and participants whose parents were employed at 46.8%. This study concluded that depression should be of great concern to clinicians dealing with DHH adolescents in public primary pupils in Kenya.

Keywords: Adolescents, Depression, Deaf and hard of hearing, Hearing Impairment.