• The Journal of Korean Society for School & Community Health Education
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.37-51
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• 2019

Purpose: This study aims to substantiate a correlation between the period of living alone in a shabby one-room and a depression experience. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study using data from the Korea Homeless Survey carried out by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs in 2016. In the study, the data included 485 survey participants who resided in a single room. The period of single-room occupancy being divided into three groups: less than 1 year, 1 to 4 years, and more than 5 years was considered a primary independent variable. The outcome variable which represented a depression experience was measured by CESD-11(The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression Scale). We carried out a Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression to evaluate the association. Results: The rate of depression experienced in this population was 77.5%. Almost 83.9% of the participants were reported as being unable to receive the mental health counselling in the last 12 months. After controlling for covariates, subjects who were living in a single room occupancy for 1-5 years(OR=3.89; 95% CI=1.43-10.56) and more than 5 years(OR=2.71; 95% CI= 1.05-6.95) were found to be more likely to experience depression. Conclusions: The results showed that living alone in a shabby one-room had a high correlation with experiencing depression. We proposed that there is a need to develop a new strategy for mental health promotion program for the poor, vulnerable and deprived population.