Evaluating Primary School Teachers’ Ability to Identify Signs of Depression Among School Children in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Depressive symptoms are common among primary students. According to the World Health Organization, depression is the number one cause of disability, and will be the second most important disorder by 2020. At any given time, between 8% and 20% of the student’s population reports experiencing depressive symptomatology. Given that depression is significantly linked to poor adaptation during primary stage. Objectives of the study: 1. Examine teachers’ readiness and ability to identify and report pupils presenting depressive symptoms; 2. Investigate Saudi primary school teachers’ perceptions concerning the causation of pupils’ depression. Sample of the study: sample size of 15 teachers was not recruited. In total, 23 schools were contacted to reach the target sample of 15 teachers. Methods of the study: Data for this research was collected from school teachers working in primary and secondary schools in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. Data were thematically analysed, whilst the interviews had some pre-determined themes. Results of the study: This research finds that whilst training the teachers may improve their ability to the more pressing issues is the lack of a proper support system/mechanism for the teachers to act in cases where they notice the signs of depression.