A Study on Depression Among War Martyr's Widows in Tehran Using a Special Depression Scale for War Martyr's Widows

As the most common mental disorder, depression has a major role in the determination of an individual's mental health. In this respect, bereavement and losing spouse is one of the most important causes in developing depression. Thus, this research intends to study, first, the level of the depression among the martyrs’ widows in Tehran with the use of special depression scale for war martyr's widows whose psychometric dimensions have been studied by the authors and, then, to find out its relation with some other demographic variables. This is a descriptive study performed on 660 widows in Tehran. Participants completed a Special Depression Scale for War Martyr's Widows. The psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire were approved for using in Iranian Martyr's Widows population. Then, the collected data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and ANOVA. The results showed that about 50% of participants got a score higher than mean in the scale which indicated that depression thought and feelings for Iranian martyrs’ widows were in a higher status. Depression scores had a significant relation with their income, education, residential status and their occupation. Marital status didnt have any significant effect on the level of depression in martyr's widows. The results showed a high level of depression in Tehran Martyr's Widows and that they were concerned about war related experiences and feelings. Having high income, higher education, a private house and occupation were associated with lower scores on Special Depression Scale for War Martyr's Widows. The results obtained have been discussed in this regard as well.