Abstract. Thalassemia is a hereditary hemoglobinopathy characterized by decreased or absent globin chain production. Thalassemia causes patients and family members to experience physical and emotional difficulties that can disrupt their normal psychosocial existence. This was a cross-sectional survey conducted at Palembang branch of the Association of Parents of People with Thalassemia, Indonesia. This study’s sample size was eighty people and collected using consecutive sampling technique. The DASS-42 questionnaire was used to evaluate the levels of stress, depression, and anxiety. Research subjects were predominantly older adults (50.0%), females (73.8%), with a secondary education (61.2%), having at least one child with thalassemia (82.5%), with disease duration averagely of more than five years (62.5%). As many as 33.8% of the subjects were affected by stress, 21.2% by depression, and 41.2% by anxiety. There is a significant correlation between stress and depression (r=0.495; p=0.006) and between stress and anxiety (r=0.536; p=0,001), or, the greater the stress, the greater the depression and anxiety.

Key words: thalassemia, depression, mental health, chronic disease, genetic disease

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