Severity of Depression and Its Association with Spiritual Coping among Consecrated Religious in the Catholic Diocese of Mtwara, Tanzania

Abstract

The World Health Organization considers depression as one of the leading causes of disability in the world. Even though studies in many parts of the world have reported an association between depression and spiritual coping, limited studies have been conducted among consecrated religious. The present cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the severity of depression and its association with spiritual coping among consecrated religious in the Catholic Diocese of Mtwara, Tanzania. Convenience sampling was used to obtain 192 participants. Self-report questionnaires which included Brief Religious/Spiritual Coping scale and Becks Depression Inventory-II scale were used to measure spiritual coping and depression respectively. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings revealed that 48.5% of the participants had clinical. Also, the results shown an association between depression and negative spiritual coping (p=0.051).