Background: - Adolescent pregnancy within urban resource deprived settlements predisposes
young people to adverse mental health and psychosocial risks. Among the key mental health
challenges is depression; a significant mental health concern worldwide and also in Kenya.
Depression jeopardizes the psychological wellbeing and prospects of future productivity of the
adolescent, her infant and the whole family system.
Objective: - To determine the prevalence of depression and related psychosocial risks in
pregnant adolescent reporting at Kangemi Health Centre.
Study Design: A cross-sectional descriptive study using mixed methods.
Methodology: - Administration of socio-demographic questionnaire to measure levels of
poverty, social support and education, alcohol/substance abuse, sexual/domestic violence,
STI/HIV/AIDS, Edinburgh post-partum scale (EPDS) and the PHQ-9 to measure depression and
severity and grounded theory in-depth qualitative interviews with pregnant adolescents and their
mothers/guardian for a retrospective analysis and description of their individual experiences and
challenges.
Data analysis:- A mixed method review entailing descriptive and inferential statistical methods
available in the SPSS version 20 was used to summarize the quantitative data. The results were
presented in descriptive statistical formats such as pie charts and frequency tables. Qualitative
data was analyzed by conducting a thematic content analysis and some excerpts presented
verbatim.