Using a Community Based Health Survey to Describe Local Rates of Depression and Anxiety and inform efforts at Mental Health Promotion

The Speak to Your Health survey! is a Community Based participatory project (CBPR) that was cooperatively created by Community, Government, and Academic partners. The survey addressed a range of issues of community interest, including self reported diagnosis of depression and anxiety. Members of the primary care community were particularly interested in the reported prevalence of diagnosed depression and anxiety. A randomly selected telephone sample (N=1688) was drawn from Genesee County Michigan. Results show that 20% of the population reports ever having been diagnosed with depression and 17.8% report having had a diagnosis of anxiety. Chi-square analysis reveals that whites, women and those with lower SES are significantly more likely report being diagnosed with depression. The patterns are similar for anxiety diagnosis except for no differences between racial groups.

Indicators of chronic social stress were associated with greater levels of depression and anxiety. Individuals who reported higher perceived stress were more likely to report a diagnosis of depression and anxiety. Similarly, individuals who reported the social stressors of having friends or relatives in prison or addicted to drugs were significantly more likely to respond that they had been diagnosed with depression or anxiety.

Locally based mental health epidemiology is an effective tool for engaging community partners in collaborative efforts. The data have also been GIS mapped to identify particular areas in the county where rates of depression and anxiety were highest. The recognition of specific neighborhoods that are at risk will allow further tailoring of mental health promotion efforts.