Quality of Life, Anxiety, Depression and Stress Among Adults in Greece
Until 2009 Greece was been considered the 27th largest economy and the 18th country in terms of Human Index development.An economic crisis emerged in 2009 that threatened the country with bankruptcy. Since 2010 EU and IMF introduced radical austerity measures in exchange for bailout loans. Salaries ware reduced 40-50% along with significant cuts in health and welfare care while 1/3 of the population reached poverty levels.
Despite this intervention the recession continues causing a deep humanitarian crisis. Quality of life has significantly been impacted and mental health issues are on the raise such as depression, anxiety.
PURPOSE
The relationship between the quality of life(QofL) and of level depression, anxiety, and stress since the austerity measures were enacted have not been widely explored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore Q oLife, Anxiety, Depression and Stress among Greek adults
The hypotheses were:
H1: Income will have no effect on QofL, Anxiety, Stress and Depression
H2: Employment status will have no effect on QofL, Anxiety, Stress, and Depression
H3: QofL, anxiety, stress and depression scores will differ by gender
METHOD
Following IRB approval 1007 adults in Greece completed a: (1) Brief Survey Form: This included age, gender, employment, financial status, and accommodation type, (2) Multicultural Quality of Life Index (MQLI) to assess quality of life, and (3) Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) to assess anxiety, depression and stress. Bivariate analysis, t-tests and one way ANOVA tests were performed.
RESULTS
The average Quality of Life Index (QoL) was 6.54. DASS scores indicated high levels of stress, depression and anxiety as compared to other normative populations. QoL statistically differed between different income groups (Welch's F(4,3.050) = 81.958, p < .0005). Results were similar for Stress (Welch’s F(4, 3.877)= 83.887, p < .05) Depression (Welch’s F(4, 7.348)= 76517, p < .0005) and Anxiety (Welch’s F(4, 3.424)= 82846 p < .05) indicating that lower income people had more stress anxiety depression and lower QofL.
MQLI scores statistically differed between different employment status groups, F(2,762) = 10.331, p =.000. Similarly for Anxiety scores, (F(2,709) = 5.018, p =.007). Depression (Welch's F(2,236.020) = 10.256 , p < .0005) indicating that people with no employment had lower QofL but higher scores of anxiety and depression.
QofL scores significantly differed between the genders, with males scoring higher than women, (M = -.343, SE = 0.12, t(857) = -2.748, p = .0069). Similarly DASS scores statistically differed, between women and men Stress (M = -186, SE = 0.73, t(816) =-2532), Anxiety, (U = 86.47 z = 4.678, p = .000) Depression, (U = 82.41 z = 3.955, p = .000), with women scoring higher than men in all 3 scales.
CONCLUSIONS
This study indicated that quality of life has been affected in Greece particularly for women, unemployed individuals and those with lower income, while stress, anxiety and depression levels have increased. This study has important implications for social work as it informs practice and education.