Prevalence of depressive symptoms and its associated factors among male prisoners at Dillibazar prison, Kathmandu, Nepal

Background: Depression is characterized by continuous low mood, feeling of sadness and loss of interest. To find out the prevalence of depressive symptoms and its associated factors among male prisoners in Dillibazar prison.  Methodology: A cross-sectional analytical design was conducted among 195 male prisoners of Dillibazar by using systematic random sampling. The self-administered questionnaire technique was used for data collection along with the standard Major Depression Inventory (MDI) tool of WHO for rating the level of depression. The data were coded, tabulated using Epi-data, the analysis was done by SPSS 16 version and chi-square test was done for the associations between the variables. Results: The overall findings revealed that the prevalence of depressive symptoms at Dillibazar prison was (45.6%). Among the total of (45.6%) with depression, (28.2%) of them met the criteria of severe depression, (6.7%) of moderate depression while rest (10.8%), met the criteria of mild depression. It was found that the duration of stay in prison, history of alcoholism, history of smoking, frequency of disputes is not statistically significant with depression and history of past illness, history of drug abuse and depression was found a statistically significant association with p-values less than 0.05 at 5% level of significance. Conclusion: This will be an initial step towards drawing the attention of the authorities towards the value of mental health among prisoners in Nepal.