Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 101 (1996)Knowledge and Attitude Towards Depression Among UAE NationalsStudent Authors: Afra Saeed Al-MahmoudiFaculty Supervisors: Dr. N. Pugh, Dr. G.A. Absood, Dr. M.M. HossainAbstract:Objective The knowledge and attitude of 158 local people aged between 16-65 in AlAin city about depression was evaluated.Methods Subjects were selected by simple random sampling from both female andmale’s waiting rooms at the general outpatient clinics of Tawam Hospital. Data werecollected by personal interviews.Results Regarding knowledge: 65.2% were familiar with depression concept incontrast to 34.8% who did not hear about it. The majority of those who were familiarwith depression could differentiate it from normal mood disturbance. About 54.4%related depression to demons, 48.5% considered depression is more common infemales. Regarding the symptoms of depression, only 16.5% mentioned a weight lossin contrast to 90.3% who mentioned a weight gain. The attitude was significantlybetter among those who had a personal experience. The majority feels sympathystrongly disagree to the idea of isolation.Conclusion In general, knowledge of the respondents appears to be limited. Aneducational program for provision of information about depression should beorganized.