Mental distress and associated factors among Aksum University students, Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Tadis Brhane Tesfahunegn · Etsay Hailu Gebremariam

31 citations0/0 files storedBMC Psychiatry

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

No open-access location is known for this record yet.

Literature note Cite in a project Citation map

Student Stress and Coping Mental Health Treatment and Access Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Mental distress is becoming a common health problem in Ethiopia. The prevalence of mental distress is higher among university students than the general population. However, there is inadequate information in this regard in Ethiopia situations. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of mental distress among regular undergraduate students in Aksum University, North Ethiopia. METHODS: An institution based cross-sectional study was carried out among 919 students from May 10 to 20, 2016. Students were selected by stratified multi-stage sampling technique. Data were collected using pre-tested and structured self-administered questionnaire. The collected data were entered into EPI-INFO version 7 and then exported to SPSS version 21 for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regression models were used to determine the factors associated with mental distress among university students. RESULTS: The prevalence of mental distress was nearly four in ten (39.6%) students. Being female sex (AOR =1.7, 95% CI: 1.20, 2.34), low social support (AOR = 3.05, 95% CI: 1.97, 4.72), freshman students (AOR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.10, 2.71), having had conflict with friends (AOR = 1.5,95% CI: 1.03, 1.90), financial problem (AOR = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.59, 2.92), family history of mental disorder (AOR = 2.10, 95% CI: 1.37, 3.21), scoring lower grade (AOR = 1.51,95% CI: 1.03, 1.61), argument with instructors (AOR = 1.52,95% CI: 1.12, 2.07) and field of study (AOR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.03, 2.37) were significantly associated with mental distress. CONCLUSION: This study has shown that the magnitude of mental distress among Aksum University students was high. Several social and economic factors were significantly associated with mental distress of the students. Therefore, mental distress needs special focus and timely corrective action by policy makers, university officials, and other concerned stakeholders.

Paper brief

Loading…

Cite this work

Citation unavailable for this work.

BibTeX RIS CSL-JSON

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Citations in this library

Citation map →

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 31 citations exist upstream.

References

1990Psychometric Characteristics of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support 2007Prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality among university students.2008The prevalence and socio-demographic correlations of depression, anxiety and stress among a group of university students 2010Psychological distress in university students: A comparison with general population data 2007The burden of disease and injury in Australia 2003 2010A systematic review: Students with mental health problems—A growing problem 2001Suicidal ideation among medical students and young physicians: a nationwide and prospective study of prevalence and predictors 1987Social networks: We get by with (and in spite of) a little help from our friends.

Explore the map →

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.