Prevalence and Factors Associated with Depression among Public Health students, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand
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Abstract
Introduction: Depressive symptoms is a sign of a mental health problem that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and a loss of interest in activities, and it can cause emotional, functional and physical problems and progress to severe depression. Objectives: This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of and identify the factors associated with depressive symptoms among students attending a life science program at a university located in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand. Methods: An analytic cross-sectional study was conducted from September to December 2019. A random method was used to select the participants. A validated questionnaire was used to collect socioeconomic information about the participants, and a health questionnaire (PHQ-9) was used to assess the participants’ depressive symptoms. Logistic regression was applied to determine the association between the variables at a significance level of a=0.05. Results: Of 270 students, 160 participants were recruited for the study; 87.5% were female, 43.8% reported that they did not have enough money to support their daily life, 10.0% had a family conflict, 30.6% had been subjected to bullying, and 15.6% reported that they did not consult anyone when facing a problem. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 20.6%. After controlling for sex and age, two variables were found to be associated with depressive symptoms: family conflicts and having experienced being bullied by peers. Those who had a family conflict were more likely to have depressive symptoms than those who did not (AOR = 4.90, 95% CI = 1.46–16.38), and those who had been bullied were more likely to have depressive symptoms that those who had not (AOR = 3.24, 95% CI = 1.39–7.54). Conclusion: Improvements in family member relationships and minimizing bullying among peers at the university are urgently required interventions for preventing depressive symptoms among university students in Thailand.
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