Prevalence of Mental Distress and Associated Factors among Undergraduate Students of University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Institutional Based Study

Berihun Assefa Dachew, Telake Azale Bisetegn and Resom Berhe Gebremariam

PLOS ONE, 2015, vol. 10, issue 3, 1-10

Abstract: Background: Mental health problems affect society as a whole and no group is immune to mental disorders; however, students have significantly high level of mental distress than their community peers. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of mental distress among undergraduate students of University of Gondar, Northwest Ethiopia. Methods: Institution based cross sectional study was conducted among 836 students from April 9–11/2014. Stratified multistage sampling technique was used to select the study participants. Data were collected using pretested and structured self-administered questionnaire. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with mental distress among students. An adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval was computed to determine the level of significance. Results: Prevalence of mental distress among students was found to be 40.9%. Female sex (AOR = 1.65; 95% CI 1.17–2.30), lack of interest towards their field of study (AOR = 2.28; 95% CI 1.49–3.50), not having close friends (AOR = 1.48; 95% CI 1.03–2.14), never attend religious programs (AOR = 1.58; 95% CI 1.02–2.46), conflict with friends (AOR = 1.93; 95% CI 1.41–2.65), having financial distress (AOR1.49 = 95% CI 1.05, 2.10), family history of mental illness (AOR = 2.12; 95% CI 1.31–3.45), Ever use of Khat (AOR = 1.71; 95% CI 1.12–2.59), lower grade than anticipated(AOR = 2.07; 95% CI 1.51–2.83), lack of vacation or break (AOR = 1.46; 95% CI 1.06–2.02), and low social support(AOR = 2.58; 95% CI 1.58–4.22) were significantly associated with mental distress. Conclusion: The overall prevalence of mental distress among students was found to be high. Therefore, it is recommended that mental distress needs due attention and remedial action from policy makers, college officials, non-governmental organizations, parents, students and other concerned bodies.

Date: 2015
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0119464 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 19464&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0119464

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0119464

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().