Abstract

Abstract.Objective: To measure the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress among secondary school heads working in District Gujrat, Pakistan.
Methodology: The sample of the study consisted of 165 secondary school heads selected through simple random sampling technique. Urdu version of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-42) was used to measure the study variables by visiting schools located in Gujrat, Kharian, and Sara-e-Alamgir.
Results: The Alpha reliability coefficients of depression, anxiety and stress are 0.89, 0.88, and 0.81 (with 0.94 on total scales) respectively on the present sample of the study. Results showed 62.4% of the school heads exhibited moderate to extremely severe level of anxiety followed by 42.5% of stress and 27.3% of depression in moderate to extremely severe range. ANOVA also showed that there were significant differences for anxiety and stress but non-significant difference for depression with respect to work experience.
Conclusion: The prevalence of anxiety and depression among school heads was greater in percentage than the estimates given by World Health Organization. Workshops on awareness about mental health related issues should be organized to improve coping and management skills in school heads.Key words: Anxiety, depression, mental health, prevalence, secondary school heads, stress.