Abstract:
Depression is the most common mental health consequence occurred in women with obstetric
fistula that needs Brief psychological intervention. The study was aimed to assess the
effectiveness of Brief interpersonal psychotherapy on reducing symptoms of depression among
fistula patients in University of Gondar comprehensive specialized hospital. Quasi experimental
research design control group pre and post test method was conducted from March 01/2023 to
May 15/2023. The sample size was 34. The researcher used purposive sampling technique from
those who are depressed based on their score of PHQ 9 to have two groups as much as possible
with similar score of PHQ 9 . Then, the groups were randomly selected with lottery method to be
treatment or control group. Structured questionnaire consisting of demographic data and PHQ 9
was used to assess the current depression state of the clients. The data was analyzed by using
SPSS in which descriptive inferential statistics was used. As a result, independent sample t test
shows that there was significant difference in the mean score of depressive symptoms by PHQ 9
between control and treatment groups after therapy which was not significant before the therapy. Paired sample t test also shows that the mean difference of depressive symptoms between pre
and post test in the treatment group was statistically significant. In conclusion, IPT B is effective
in reducing symptoms of depression among fistula patients. The researcher recommended for
psychologists to apply IPT B on depressive obstetric fistula patients.
