| Background:In the fields of psychology and psychiatry,the term of depression or depressed refer to sadness and other related emotions and behaviors.It can be thought of as either a disease or a syndrome.The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM) states that a depressed mood is often reported as feeling depressed,sad,helpless,and hopeless.In traditional colloquy,"depressed" is often synonymous with "sad",but both clinical and non-clinical depression can also refer to a conglomeration of more than one feeling.Such a mixture can include anger,fear,anxiety,despair,guilt,apathy, perceived helplessness,loss of interest in pleasure,pain,and/or grief,in addition to what many people would describe as typical "sadness".Depressives sometimes engage in violence or excessive criticism of others.Many depressed people have obsessions,alcoholism or other addictions.Depression is harmful to the human body and can affect proper functioning of the brain.Extended depression can lead to suicidal tendencies.Depression is a common illness,a leading cause of disability,affecting about 121 million people worldwide.Many studies have shown the morbidity is around 30%.According the statistic results from WHO,about 20%-41%of the world population has diagnosed depression.Depression is the leading cause of disability as measured by YLDs and the 4th leading contributor to the global burden of disease(DALYs) in 2000.By the year 2020,depression is projected to reach 2nd place of the ranking of DALYs calculated for all ages,both sexes.Today, depression is already the 2nd cause of DALYs in the age category 15-44 years for both sexes combined.However,fewer than 25%of those affected have access to effective treatments.A research in Chinese Journal of Psychiatry 2007 shows there are 878 thousands patients of depression in Beijing especially people who with low income,unemployed and lack of education.In China,the rate of depression in rural areas is higher than in urban areas.The aim of the The Social and Economic Burdens of Depression(SEBoD) Initiative is to reduce the social,cultural,economic,and regulatory barriers to early diagnosis and treatment of depression in the Asia-Pacific region through education and destigmatization of depressive disorders.SEBoD found that fewer than 5%of those affected have access to effective treatments in China. Without proper treatment,depression can become a severe illness.Decrease in work efficiency,shortening in lifespan and medical expense all add up "total illness burden".Depression costs more than 1000 billions U.S dollar in economy directly or indirectly in Asia,includes about 640 billions Yuan in China.Furthermore,Beijing is the capital of China,and one of the fastest developing cities in China.The city developments are closely depended on its massive migrant workers.Facing all sorts of stress from society,livelihood and working environment,migrant workers become one of the highest morbidity groups to suffer from depression.For further study in migrant workers'laborers mentality,this research combines 4 scales to evaluate the relevance between workers' state of depression and quality of life.Methods:This study was designed as a cross-sectional survey.The survey was hold at six construction sites in Beijing from April 5th,2008 to June 30th,2008.The following scales were chosen:Center for Epidemiological Survey,Depression Scale(CES-D),World Health Organization Quality Of Life-Bref Scale (WHOQOL-BREF),Life Event Scale(LES),and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI).All surveys were filled out by migrant workers in person with on-site guidance.Results:Part 1:CES-D survey.1.Surveys were taken from 442 migrant workers,66 of them(14.9%) had depressive tendency,41(9.3%) of them were certain with depressive symptoms.2.Vocational nature(labor and brain work) was unapparent relevance with depressive symptoms.3.Smoking and drinking was irrelevant with depressive symptoms.4.Working environment(ground surface and underground) was unapparent relevance with depression.5.Negative life events had direct impact on depression.Part 2:WHQOL-BREF and CES-D survey.1.Higher depression score came with lower quality of life.2.Non-depressive group had better quality of life than depressive group.3.Quality of life indicators in depressive group and non-depressive group had significant differences statistically.4.When education,income,type of work and ages were under control, non-depressive group and depressive group had significant difference statistically in quality of life.5.Labor group and brain work group had significant difference in social relationships domain and environment domain.6.Ground surface workers and underground workers did not have significant difference in evaluation of life domain,psychological domain,social relationships domain and environment domain;had significant difference statiscally in physical health domain and individual's overall perception of health.Part 3:NEO-FFI,CES-D and WHOQOL-BREF survey.1.Depressive population had higher score than normal population in emotional stability section.2.Depressive migrant workers had more mobility of changing jobs,and more dissatisfaction with current life;non-depressive migrant workers prefered stable job and stable life events.3.Normal population had more extraversion and conscientiousness,and was more agreeable than depressive population.4.People with unstable neuroticism have higher risk to have depression;had more tendencies to had negative emotion or irrational thinking;had less performance under pressure.5.People with unstable neuroticism tended to look down on personal quality of life.6.Ground workers had better stability in neuroticism than subway workers (underground workers),which meant stability in neuroticism can be effected by external factors.Part 4:LES survey.1.CES-D,WHOQOL-BREF and NEO-FFI could reflect migrant workers' psychological state and personality.However,LES could not.Conclusions:This study shows that among the migrant workers groups,14.9 percent of people tend to have depression.Higher the tendency for depression,lower in quality of life.Quality of life for migrant workers is relevant with depression, educational level,age,type of work,but not with personal income.In addition, stability of neuroticism is essential to depression.Normal people are more stable on neuroticism and more agreeable;have more extraversion and more conscientiousness than depressive people.However,depressive workers with openness tend to have greater mobility of changing jobs and more dissatisfaction with current life.Normal migrant workers are more conservative,prefer statility in life.In addition,this survey shows LES is not suitable for migrant workers or people with lack education.Chinese medicine promotes prophylaxis,which is the most priority for health care workers.If depression patients can have early diagnosis and treatment,the patients not only can have quicker recovery,but also create better efficiency economically and socially in life.I hope this depressive state survey study of migrant workers can be useful for future reference resources,and provide an efficient model for early intervention for depression. |
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