Very few studies on mental health have been carried out with respect to Cameroonian prisons with none addressing depression amongst inmates. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence, associated risk factors and effects of depression amongst inmates in Buea central prison. A total of 296 inmates including 254 adult male, 22 females and 20 minor male were selected for the study. Data on depression symptoms was collected using PHQ-9 and semi structured questionnaires and all inmates were diagnosed/classified as not depressed, mild, moderate and severe depression based on PHQ-9 scores of 0-4, 5-9, 10-19 and 20-27 respectively. Result revealed that the prevalence of depression in Buea central prison is 93.2% and the prevalence of mild, moderate and severe depression are 20.9%, 58.7% and 13.5% respectively. Identified risk factors such as; missing love ones, being detained, lack of psychosocial support and low economic status were significantly higher in depressed than non-depressed inmates (P-value 0.0002, 0.001, 0.006, and 0.029 respectively). Three identified effects of depression such as hyper anger, frequent tiredness and low self-esteem significant were significantly higher in depressed than non-depressed inmates (P = 0.002, 0.0115, 0,019 respectively).Our findings revealed that the prevalence of depression in Buea central prison is high and stands at 93.2%. Missing love ones, being detained, lack of psychosocial support and low economic status are risk factors of depression and hyper anger, frequent tiredness and low self-esteem are the effects associated with depression in Buea central prison.
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