Students and Depression: What Do They Know?

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Students and Depression: What Do They Know? NADIATUL AZRA AHMAD MAZLAN1* and Chee Ming Chua1 1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahsa University, Malaysia Background Studies found young populations at the age of 16-24 years old undergo the supreme rate of acute and chronic suicide which is approximately 10-26%. Low to minimal level of mental health literacy and stigmatisation may lead to higher depression prevalence. This study aimed to evaluate MAHSA undergraduate pharmacy students’ knowledge on depression. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted using self-administered pre-validated questions. The questionnaire consists of knowledge on symptoms of depression, pharmacological and alternative medicine and source of information. Results There was a total of 183 respondents with two-third were aged 21 – 24 years old and 72.7% were females. Only 29.5% believed that they had at least 25% chances of suffering from depression. Majority of the students only able to identify three out of seven typical symptoms of depression stated by WHO that is “Being sad, down or miserable” (80.9%), “Thinking I’m worthless” (69.9%) and “Being unhappy or depressed” (69.4%). Highest number of respondents (74.3%) agreed that psychotherapy was effective in treating depression, with 48.1% believed in herbs and one-fifth believed in vitamins. More than 80% agreed that meditation will certainly help in treating depression. However, despite the increasing trends of suicidal act among students, slightly half of the students (51.9%) ever looked for information about depression and majority of them (74.7%) preferred to search through internet which may be related to uneasiness to discuss this topic in public. Conclusions In summary, moderate level of knowledge on depression was noticed among MAHSA undergraduate pharmacy students. Most believed that interpersonal disharmony will create life imbalance which may lead to depression. More than two thirds gave positive response to alternative treatment. References Arria, A.M., O’Grady, K.E. and Wish, E.D. 2009, Suicide ideation among college students: A multivariate analysis, Archieves of Suicide Research 13(3): 230-246. Amarasuriya, S.D., Jorm, A.F. and Reavley, N.J. 2015, Depression literacy of undergraduates in a non-western developing context: the case of Sri Lanka, Bio Medical Central 8: 593. American College Health Association (ACHA) 2012-National College Health Assessment II: Undergraduate Students, Reference Group Data Report Spring 2012. http://www.acha-ncha.org/docs/ACHA-NCHA-II_ReferenceGroup_DataReport_Spring2012.pdf (accessed 19 November 2015) American Psychiatric Association 2013, The Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM 5, Bookpoint United State. Ammouri, A.A., Kaur, H., Neuberger, G.B., Gajewski, B. and Choi, W.S. 2007, Correlates of exercise participation in adolescents, Public Health Nursing 24: 111-120. Atindanbila, S. and Abasimi, E. 2011, Depression and coping strategies among students in the university of Ghana, Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences 2(12): 1257–1266. Bayram, N. and Bilgel, N. 2008, The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 43: 667–672. Beyond Blue Ltd 2015, What Causes Depression. https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/depression/what-causes-depression (accessed 5 March 2016) Blazina, C. and Marks, L.I. 2001, College men's affective reactions to individual therapy, psychoeducational workshops, and men's support group brochures: The influence of gender-role conflict and power dynamics upon help-seeking attitudes, Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training 38: 297-305. Brigitta, B. 2002, Pathophysiology of depression and mechanism of treatment, Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 4(1): 7-20. Brooks, T.L., Harris, S.K., Thrall, J.S. and Woods, E.R. 2002, Association of adolescent risk behaviors with mental health symptoms in high school students, Journal Adolescent Health 31: 240-246. Brown, G.W. 1998, Genetic and population perspectives on life events and depression, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 33(8): 363-372. Chan, W., Immink, M.A. and Hillier, S. 2012, Yoga and exercise for symptoms of depression and anxiety in people With poststroke disability: A Randomized, Controlled Pilot Trial, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 18(3): 34-43. Cozens, F.J. 1987, Emotional distress in junior house officers, British Medical Journal 295: 533- 536. Craft, L.L., Freund, K.M. and Perna, F.M. 2007, Intervention study of exercise for depressive symptoms in women, Journal of Women's Health 16: 1499-1509. Crisp, A.H. 1997, The stigmatisation of sufferers with mental disorders, British Journal of General Practice 49: 3–4. Cross sectional study. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-sectional_study (accessed 14 December 2015). Davies, J., McCrae, B.P., Frank, J., Pickering, T., Harrison, B., Zakrzewski, M., and Wilson, K. 2000, Identifying male college students' perceived health needs, barriers to seeking help, and recommendations to help men adopt healthier lifestyles, Journal of American College Health 48(6): 259-267. Dishman, R.K., Hales, D.P., Pfeiffer, K.A., Felton, G., Saunders, R., Ward, D.S., Dowda, M. and Pate, R.R. 2006, Physical self-concept and self-esteem mediate cross-sectional relations of physical activity and sport participation with depression symptoms among adolescent girls, Health Psychology 25(3): 396-407. Dobmeier, R.A., Hernandez, T.J., Barrell, R.G., Burke,D.M., Hanna, C.M., Luce, D.B., Catlin-Rakoski, S.J., Rowe, J.M., and Siclare, M. 2011, Student knowledge of signs, risk factors and resources for depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, and other mental health problems on campus, CSPA-NYS Journal of Student Affairs 11: 103-122. Dobmeier, R.A., Kalkbrenner, M.T., Hill, T.T. and Hernandez, T.J. 2013, Residential community college student awareness of mental health problems and resources, CSPA-NYS Journal of Student Affairs 13: 15-28. Elisabetsky, E., Figueiredo, W. and Oliveria, G. 2010, Traditional amazonian nerve tonic as antidepressant, Journal of Herbs, Spices and Medicinal Plants 1: 125-162. Fornos, L.B., Mika, V.S., Bayles, B., Serrano, A.C., Jimenez, R.L. and Villarreal, R. 2005, A qualitative study of Mexican American adolescent and depression, The Journal of School Health 75(5): 162. Furr, S.R., Westefeld, J.S., McConnell, G.N., and Jenkins, J. M. 2001, Suicide and depression among college students: A decade later, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 32(1): 97-l00. Goodman, C.C. 2010, Screening for gastrointestinal, hepatic and renal disease, Journal of Hand Therapy 23(2): 140-156. Gourion, D., Perrin, E. and Quintin, P. 2004, Fluoxetine: an update on its use in major depressive disorder in adults, Pubmed Central 30(4): 392-399. Ghaedi, L. and Kosnin, A.B.M. 2014, Prevalence of depression among undergraduate students : gender and age differences, International Journal of Psychological Research 7(2): 38–50. Givens, J.L and Tjia, J. 2002, Depressed medical students’ use of mental health services and barriers to use, Academic Medicine 77(9): 918-921. Goldney, R.D., Fisher, L.J., Wilson, D.H., and Cheok, F. 2002, Mental health literacy of those with major depression and suicidal ideation: An impediment to help seeking, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 32(4): 394–403. Hart, S.R., Wilcox, H.C., Musci, R., Swartz, K.L., Kastella, E.A., Beaudry, M.B., Musci, R.J., Heley, K.M. and Rubie, A.E. 2014, Achieving depression literacy: the adolescent depression knowledge questionnaire, School Mental Health: 4-6. Hayes, J.A., Soo Jeong, Y., Castonguay, L.G., Locke, B.D., McAleavey, A. A. and Nordberg, S. 2011, Rates and predictors of counseling center use among college students of color, Journal of College Counseling 14(2): 105-116. Hogue, M.B., Doran, E. and Henry, D.A. 2012, A prompt to the Web: The media and health information seeking behaviour. https:http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0034314#pone-0034314-t005 (accessed 29 June 2016). Hickie AM, I.B., Davenport, T.A, Luscombe, G.M., Rong, Y., Hickie, M. L. and Bell, M.I. 2007, The assessment of depression awareness and help-seeking behaviour: experiences with the international depression literacy survey, BioMed Central Psychiatry 7: 48. Highet, N. J., Hickie, I.B., and Davenport, T.A. 2002, Monitoring awareness of and attitudes to depression in Australia, The Medical Journal of Australia 176: 63–68. Institute for Public Health (IPH) 2011, National Health and Morbidity Survey 2011 (NHMS 2011), Volume II: Non- Communicable Diseases. http: http://www.iku.gov.my/images/IKU/Document/REPORT/NHMS2011-VolumeII.pdf (accessed 28 December 2015). Institute for Public Health (IPH), 2008, The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) 2006. Institute for Public Health, National Institute of Health, Ministry of Health, Malaysia. Ishi, K. 2016, Diet diary: Always feeling tired? You need a healthier lifestyle. https://http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/diet-diary-always-feeling-tired-you-need-a-healthier-lifestyle-2811422/ (accessed 28 June 2016). John, D., Margaret, H., Maeve, M. and Steve, O. 2012, Knowledge of the business environment: exploring engagement with and discrimination between business media among first year and final year students, The Iris Accounting Review 1(2): 31-46. Jorm, A.F. 2000, Public knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders, The British Journal of Psychiatry 177(5): 396-401. Kasper, S.M.D., Gastpar, M., Muller, W.E., Volz, H.P., Dienel, A., Kieser, M. and Moller, H.J. 2007, Efficacy of St. John's wort extract WS® 5570 in acute treatment of mild depression, European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience 258(1): 59-63. Kelk, N., Medlow, S. and Hickie, I. 2010, Distress and depression among Australia Law Students: Incidence, Attitudes and the Role of Universities, Sydney Law Review 32: 113. Keyes, K.M., Pratt, C., Galea, S., Mclaughlin, K.A., Koenen, K.C. And Shear M.K. 2014, The burden of loss: unexpected death of a loved one and psychiatric disorders across the life course in a national study, American Journal of Psychiatry 171: 864-871. Khan, T.M., Sulaiman, S.A. and Hassali, M.A. 2010, Mental health literacy towards depression among non-medical students at a Malaysian university, Mental Health in Family Medicine 7(1): 27–35. Ko, S.M, Kua, E.H and Fones, C.S.L. 1999, Stress and the undergraduates, Singapore Medical Journal 40(10): 627-630. Krygier, J.R., Shahrestani, S. and Kemp, A.H. 2012, The evidence for meditation, Control Publications Pty Ltd, Hawksburn. Lackey, N.R and Wingate, A.L. 1998, The Pilot Study: One Key to Research Success, In: Advanced Design in Nursing Research 2nd Edition, Brink PJ and Wood MJ. Thousand Oaks, Sage. Lam, L.T. 2014, Mental health literacy and mental health status in adolescents: A population-based survey, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health 8: 26. Latiff, L.A. , Khalek, N.F. , Kon, J.F. , Ibrahim, N. and Aszahari, M.A.M 2014, Prevalence of mental health problems and the associated factors among undergraduate students in a public university, Journal of Public Health and Clinical Science 1(1): 59–69. Lee, M.T.Y., Wong, B.P., Chow, B.W.Y. and Chang, C.M.B. 2006, Predictors of suicide ideation and depression in Hong Kong adolescents: perceptions of academic and family climates, Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior 36(1): 82–96. Loureiro, L.M., Jorm, A.F., Mendes, A.C., Santos, J.C., Ferreira, R.O. and Pedreiro, A. T. 2013, Mental health literacy about depression: a survey of portuguese youth, BioMed Central Psychiatry 13(1): 129. Malaysian Psychiatric Association 2006, Depression. http://www.psychiatry-malaysia.org/article.php?aid=56.html (accessed 2 Jun 2016). Keywords: Pharmacy, MAHSA, Depression, knowledge, Students Conference: International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine 2018 (ICDDTM '18) “Seizing Opportunities and Addressing Challenges of Precision Medicine”, Putrajaya, Malaysia, 3 Dec - 5 Feb, 2019. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Mental health Citation: AHMAD MAZLAN N and Chua C (2019). Students and Depression: What Do They Know?. Front. Pharmacol. Conference Abstract: International Conference on Drug Discovery and Translational Medicine 2018 (ICDDTM '18) “Seizing Opportunities and Addressing Challenges of Precision Medicine”. doi: 10.3389/conf.fphar.2019.63.00003 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 26 Oct 2018; Published Online: 17 Jan 2019. * Correspondence: Dr. NADIATUL AZRA AHMAD MAZLAN, Faculty of Pharmacy, Mahsa University, Bandar Saujana Putra, Malaysia, AZRA@MAHSA.EDU.MY Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers NADIATUL AZRA AHMAD MAZLAN Chee Ming Chua Google NADIATUL AZRA AHMAD MAZLAN Chee Ming Chua Google Scholar NADIATUL AZRA AHMAD MAZLAN Chee Ming Chua PubMed NADIATUL AZRA AHMAD MAZLAN Chee Ming Chua Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.