Depression, Social Support and Alcohol Use among Refugees in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda

ABSTRACT : The study focused on examining the effect of depression, social support and alcohol use among refugees in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. The objectives of the study were to; assess the relationship between depression and alcohol use among refugees, examine the relationship between social support and alcohol use among refugees, examine the relationship between depression and social support among refugees and assess the moderating role of social support between depression and alcohol use among refugees in Nakivale Refugee Settlement. A correlational study was conducted among 200 refugees in Nakivale refugee Settlement. Depression was measured using a patient health questionnaire, social support was measured using a multidimensional scale of perceived social support questionnaire and alcohol use was tested using Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between depression, social support and alcohol use. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. The study indicated a significant positive correlation between depression and alcohol use (r= 0.801, sig= 0.000) which implied an increase in depression leads to an increase in alcohol use. A negative significant correlation was revealed between social support and alcohol use (r= -0.537, sig= 0.000) and between depression and social support (r= -0.796, sig= 0.000) which implies an increase in one variable leads to a decrease in the other and vice versa. This indicated that there is relationship between social support, alcohol use and depression. The study revealed that social support moderates between depression and alcohol use among refugees in Nakivale Refugee Settlement where efforts should be made to understand and maintain the high levels of social support to reduce the prevalence of depressive symptoms; and reduce the risk of alcohol use.

KEYWORDS: Depression, Social Support and Alcohol, Refugees