Screening for Depression Among Minority Young Males Attending a Family Planning Clinic

Introduction
In the article Screening for Depression Among Minority Young Males Attending a Family Planning Clinic, Ruth S. Buzi, Peggy B. Smith, and Maxine L. Weinman sought to determine depression among males who attended a family planning clinic and if there were variations in depression based on service requests and sociodemographic. This paper, therefore, is an evaluation of this article with the objective of determining the variables used, the analysis method used, and how these are appropriate for the type of study and the data collected. The evaluation will include a summary of the study.
Summary of the research
Background
Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is one of the most common chronic conditions as, according to statistics, one in every five Americans aged 18 years and older have experienced at least one major episode of depression. This is even more pronounced among young people as the rate of mental illness is twice as much among persons aged 18-25 years old as compared to persons aged 50 years and above (Buzi et al., 2014, p.116). In addition, young males experience persistent depressive symptoms starting from adolescence into adulthood as compared to females. The cause of depression is considered to be an economic strain, racial discrimination, and interpersonal conflicts. Despite the fact that men have higher experiences of depressive episodes, they seek professional help less frequently as compared to women, as seeking mental help is considered to be a sign of weakness. This, therefore, warranted the study by Buzi and her colleagues to assess the depression among males who attended a family planning clinic and if there were variations in depression based on service requests and sociodemographic.
Method
The study utilized a cohort study design with 535 participants of both African-American (66%) and Hispanic-American (34%) descent. The participants included males who attended the clinic within specific given hours and aged 13 to 25 years. The Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D was used to measure depression). The CES-D has 20 questions that a participant is required to answer. A score of 16 or higher is an indication of depressive disorder. Measures for sociodemographic characteristics were age, school status, ethnicity, fatherhood, marital status, health insurance ownership, and employment status. On the other hand, measures for service requests involved 20 services the males wanted to know more about. These services include health screening, relationships, anger management, employment, eating well and exercising, and education. A chi-square test was used to compare the depressed and the nondepressed on the basis of sociodemographic characteristics.
Results
The results indicated that 119 out of the 535 men who participated in the study met the criteria for depressive disorder. The Chi-Square test indicated that Hispanic Males were more depressed than African American males (28.6% vs. 19.0%). Employment was the other demographic character that showed a significant effect on the depressive disorder as Hispanic were more likely to be employed as compared to African Americans. Of the 20 services, there was a significant statistical difference among the 10 of them. Depressed males requested services concerning STD prevention, how to get along with partners and family, eating well, getting a job, depression, working out, testicular cancer, college/loan applications, emergency contraceptives, and vasectomy.
Conclusion
Based on the above findings, the authors concluded that depressed young males are more likely to be Hispanic, have unmet needs pertaining to finances, feelings, physical wellbeing, and relationships. Most importantly, when these depressed young men are given the opportunity, they express these needs. As a result, given the increasing number of young men visiting family planning clinics, this presents a favorable opportunity to screen for depression.
Type of variables used in the analysis
The study measured two aspects of that are related to depression; sociodemographic characteristics and service requests. For sociodemographic characteristics, the variables used included age, ethnicity, owning health insurance, school status, marital status, employment status, and fatherhood status. The table below categorized these variables on their specific types.
Variable
Type
Explanations
Age
Ratio (Continuous numerical)
A participant’s age is numerical which can take any number beyond a decimal point (Gissane, 2013).
Ethnicity
Nominal
Ethnicity is a name, which in this case was either Hispanic or African American
Owning health insurance
Nominal
In this case, participants have to choose either yes or no to a given specific status, which is a name type, thus nominal variable.
School status
Nominal
Participants have a to fill up a given name which is an indication of education level, this a nominal variable
Marital status
Nominal
A specific marital status name is required, thus a nominal variable
Employment status
Nominal
Participants can either be employed or not, which is a specific name thus a nominal variable
Fatherhood status
Nominal
The required response names a specific status of whether a father or not, thus a nominal variable
On the other hand, the researchers asked participants which services they would want to know kore about. 20 services where included and they are considered to be variables for the request-for-service aspect of the study. These services include health screening services, relationships, anger management, eating well and exercise, employment, and education. For all these services, participants would indicate on the affirmative or on the contrary, basically a yes or no to whether they needed more information or not, respectively. These variables are considered to be name phrases and thus, nominal variables (Gissane, 2013).
Use of Chi-Square to analyze the data
In this study, the researcher sought to establish how sociodemographic and requests for services were related to young males having a depressive disorder or not. As a result, the researchers used categorical variables between the two groups (depressed and non-depressed). The variables used would, therefore, be either independent or dependent on the phenomenon being tested, in this case, depression. Based on this, Pearson’s Chi-Square test is the best-suited method of analysis to determine relations the various factors have on depression. According to McHugh (2013), the Chi-Square test is a statistical analysis that is used to test the relationship between categorical variables. It is a test that is used to test the independence of variables.
Did the authors use a diverse group of participants?
The purpose of the study was to assess the status of depression among young males who attended a family planning clinic and determine how depression varied with sociodemographic and service requests. Based on this purpose of study, it is obvious that the study is not limited to only two ethnicities, African Americans and Hispanics, which are the only two included in the study. America is comprised of diverse ethnicities and thus, it would be expected that more ethnicities would have been included in the study. However, on other characteristics among them, age, education status, marital status, fatherhood, employment, and wellbeing, it is obvious that the samples were adequately varied. For example, the age of the participants ranged from 14 to 27 years, with the mean age being 20.07 years, which is considered to be statistically varied and representative.
References
Buzi, R. S., Smith, P. B., & Weinman, M. L. (2014). Screening for depression among minority young males attending a family planning clinic. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 15(1), 116.
Gissane, C. (2013). What kind of data do I have? Physiotherapy Practice and Research, 34(2), 123-125.
McHugh, M. L. (2013). The chi-square test of independence. Biochemia medica: Biochemia medica, 23(2), 143-149.