What Are the Experiences and Coping Mechanisms of Nigerian Women Living with Depression in the United Kingdom?

Background/Objectives: The most common diagnosed mental health problem in the United Kingdom is anxiety and depression. Research indicates that much has been written about mental health among African American women, however, ethnically diverse women in the UK are still under-researched in this context. The need to conduct more research in this area derives from observations that there are differences in the experiences, help-seeking behaviour and coping mechanisms of ethnically diverse women regarding a mental health problem, such as depression; therefore, mental health services need to recognise those differences to provide appropriate interventions. This study investigates the experiences and coping mechanisms of Nigerian women living with depression in the UK.

Methodology: Semi-structured interview data was analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), and Template Analysis was used to develop themes. Ten women who identified as Nigerians were interviewed.

Findings: Four superordinate themes were revealed during the analysis: depression: our knowledge, our understanding (this outlined the knowledge of depression among this population and how they view and understand depression); psychosocial determinants of depression (this highlighted what participants felt were triggers for their depression); the barriers to disclosure and help-seeking (this emphasised the different challenges to disclosure and help-seeking); and negotiating depression (this outlined the different ways the participants coped with depression).

Conclusions: This study suggests that Nigerian women living with depression in the UK face different challenges in opening up about their depression and seeking support from their community and professionals. All participants felt a sense of cultural demand to be strong and to not display any signs of weakness due to stigma associated with a mental health problem within their culture. This study indicates that the women interviewed managed their depression through different means; however, religion and spirituality as ways of coping were important to all participants. The findings from this study could advance the understanding of depression and support social workers and mental health professionals to work in a strength-based approach when working with Nigerian women. These findings could also help to provide a culturally sensitive service rather than using a one-size-fits-all approach that does not take into consideration the cultural/religious beliefs, race, gender roles, socioeconomic status and religious identities that may impact the experience, coping mechanisms and help seeking behaviour of Nigerian women.