Comparison of Depression and Anxiety in Employed Women With Housewives Women

In recent decades, increasing the employment rate of women in society has made them vulnerable to the effects of multiple stressors such as depression at work. Given the important role of women in society and the family, this study performed a comparison of depression, anxiety and stress among employed women and housewives in Shiraz city. This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted using DASS21 questionnaire. Cluster sampling was used. A total of 233 women were selected out of whom 107 were employed women and 126 housewives. Data were collected and the results were analyzed using Mann-Whitney test. In this study, median of anxiety score and depression score in employed women turned out to be 10 and 9 respectively but 10 and 10 in the housewives; this difference, however, was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The median of stress score in housewives and employed women stood 13 and 11 respectively. The difference between housewives and working women was statistically significant. Results of the study showed the amount of stress in housewives higher than that of the employed women thereby requiring special attention to be paid to reduce stress and mental illness in housewives.