Prevalence and Factors Associated with Depression among Pharmacy Students, Rangsit University

Abstract

Depression is a common disease in adolescent and elderly adult that negatively influences on daily life, academic performance and relationships with others. Pharmacy student is the one of health sciences students who often get stressed because of academic overload and difficult curriculum. The objectives of this study were to investigate the prevalence of Pharmacy students who had tendency to be depressed and prevalence of students who had mild symptoms or above and to determine factors associated with those. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study in Pharmacy students between January to March 2024. Online questionnaire were used to gather data. They were consists of 3 parts; 1) general information and factors associated 2) 2Q depression screening form 3) 9Q depression severity assessment form. Descriptive statistical, Fisher’s exact test, independent t-test and multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis. Results: 60.34% of 179 participants had a tendency to be depressed and 31.84% had mild symptoms or above (9Q≥7). The factors associated with likelihood to have depression were relationship problems with friends or intimate person [OR 5.32 (1.83-15.50)], sleep problems [OR 3.16 (1.43-6.95)] and academic years; first-year students had tendency to be depressed more than second-, third-, fourth-, or fifth-year students. There were not association between any factors and mild symptoms of depression or above. Conclusion: 60.34% of participants were more likely to be depressed and 31.84% had mild symptoms or above. There should be some policies to reduce the risk of depression, such as setting activities that build up friendships, providing advisors or counselors at the dormitory, and establishing proactive monitoring in high-risk students.