Abstract
Thalassemia is a chronic condition that imposes a great burden on the lives of the whole family. Parents of thalassemic patients go through a critical psychological effect, causing profound anxiety, isolation, and self-negligence.Therefore, this study aims to address the psychosocial problems experienced by parents of children with thalassemia in Quetta, Pakistan. This cross-sectional study was carried out at Thalassemia Center Civil Hospital, Quetta Pakistan. A total of 92 parents were interviewed with a non-probability convenient sampling technique. Parents’ levels of depression were evaluated using the PHQ-9, and depression was graded in accordance with the grading rubric. Out of Ninety-two parents, 72 fathers and 30 mothers with the mean age of 34 ± 0.3. 8% had severe depression and 34% of the parents were mildly depressed. Thirty percent of the parents live more than 40 km away from the thalassemia centre and 15/92 parents were unable to bring their children for regular transfusions. There is a significant relationship between being unable to attend social gatherings and depression (p-value < 0.05). There are a significant number of parents that suffer from psychological problems due to chronic disease of their child. Measures should be taken to arrange support programs and counselling for parents at each thalassemia centre.