Depressive Symptoms in Older African Immigrants with Mobility Limitations: A Descriptive Study

ABSTRACT

Objectives:

Before, during, and after their immigration to the United States, immigrants face stressful life circumstances that may render them at risk for depressive symptoms. However, there is a dearth of research on the mental health of African immigrants. We performed secondary data analyses of two studies in the Baltimore–Washington area to describe and identify correlates of depressive symptoms in older African immigrants.

Methods

Chi square tests, one-way ANOVAs, and linear regressions were used to describe and examine associations between depressive symptoms and immigrant-related risk factors.

Results

This sample included 148 participants who had a mean age of 62 (SD ± 8.2). Clinical depressive symptoms were present in 8.1% of participants, and trouble falling asleep for more than half of the days was the most prevalent symptom (20%). Levels of education, income, and migration reasons differed significantly from clinical depressive symptoms, but these were not significantly associated with more depressive symptoms after controlling for covariates.

Conclusions

Longitudinal designs may further elucidate incidence, correlates, and long-term effects of depressive symptoms within this population.

Clinical Implications

Knowledge of depressive symptom burden and risk factors can inform timely assessment, referral, and treatment of depressive symptoms and other mental health outcomes in older African immigrants.

KEYWORDS:

• Older Africans
• immigrants
• depressive symptoms
• depression
• PHQ-8

Acknowledgments

The authors express sincere appreciation to all the participants for sharing their time and experiences with us.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We also repeated the bivariate analyses in Table 2 estimating depressive symptoms as continuous (as was done in multivariate models). Three additional variables (recruitment source, income, employment status) were associated with depressive symptoms in these analyses. We conducted additional sensitivity analyses including those variables in multivariate models and they were no longer statistically significant predictors of depressive symptoms.

Additional information

Funding

Dr. Nkimbeng was supported by the Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair at the University of Minnesota School of Public Healthand the National Institute on Aging [NIA# 1F31AG057166-01].