Depression among the Non-Native International Undergraduate Students Studying Dentistry in Bangladesh

Russell Kabir, Samia Naz Isha, Mohammad Tawfique Hossain Chowdhury, Nazeeba Siddika, Shah Saif Jahan, Arup Kumar Saha, Sujan Kanti Nath, Mohammed Shahed Jahan, Madhini Sivasubramanian, Ilias Mahmud and Ehsanul Hoque Apu
Additional contact information
Russell Kabir: School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford Essex CM1 1SQ, UK
Samia Naz Isha: CAPABLE-A Cambridge-Led Programme in Bangladesh, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1TN, UK
Mohammad Tawfique Hossain Chowdhury: Department of Dental Public Health, Sapporo Dental College, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
Nazeeba Siddika: Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research (CERH), Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland
Shah Saif Jahan: School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health, Education, Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelmsford Essex CM1 1SQ, UK
Arup Kumar Saha: Department of Dental Public Health, City Dental College, Dhaka 1229, Bangladesh
Sujan Kanti Nath: Department of Dental Public Health, Sapporo Dental College, Dhaka 1230, Bangladesh
Mohammed Shahed Jahan: Department of Dental Public Health, Update Dental College, Dhaka 1711, Bangladesh
Madhini Sivasubramanian: Programme Manager (MSc Nursing and PH), The University of Sunderland in London, London E14 9SG, UK
Ilias Mahmud: Department of Public Health, College of Public Health and Health Informatics, Qassim University, Al Bukairiyah 52741, Saudi Arabia
Ehsanul Hoque Apu: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Institute of Quantitative Health Science (IQ), Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-10

Abstract: Background: Bangladesh has been attracting international students with interests in various subjects recently. Every year students from different parts of the world come to study undergraduate and postgraduate courses, mostly at private universities in Bangladesh. This study evaluates the depression status among international students who are studying dentistry in Bangladesh. Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted among International undergraduate dental students who enrolled in the Bachelor of Dental Surgery program in nine public and private dental colleges in Bangladesh. Participants were selected using a convenience sampling method. A total of 206 students completed the survey where 78.5% of them were female students and 21.5% students were male, and a CES-D 10-item Likert scale questionnaire was used for data collection. The Cronbach alpha for the 10-item CES-D scale for this population is 0.812. Results: The majority of the students (79.5%) are below 24 years of age with a mean age of 23.22 years and standard deviation of 2.3, and are students who cannot communicate well in Bengali (Bangla), about 60% of them have experienced depression. About 77.3% ( p < 0.00) of the international students having financial difficulties exhibited depression. The international students who went through financial problems were two times more likely to suffer from depression (OR = 2.38; p -value < 0.01). Conclusion: This study tried to highlight the struggles faced by international students in Bangladesh studying dentistry. It is evident from the findings that several factors influence students’ mental well-being during demanding dental education years.

Keywords: international student; depression; Bangladesh; dental; CES-D; undergraduate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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