Depressive symptoms associated with loneliness and physical activities among graduate university students in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional pilot study

Psychological Problems and Academic Motivation in University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study One Year after the COVID-19 Lockdown in Italy

This study was aimed at exploring students' psychological condition (operationalized through psychological distress and perceived loneliness) one year after the COVID-19 lockdown and testing its role in predicting academic motivation. The possible mediating role of emotional regulation in this relationship was also investigated. A non-random sample of university students completed a cross-sectional online survey assessing their psychological distress, feelings of loneliness, emotion regulation strategies, and academic motivation. Structural equation modeling multi-group analysis was used to examine the relation between variables. The final sample comprised 479 students (62.8% female, Mage = 22.16 ± 2.79 years) from several degree courses attending Italian universities. Of these, 56.6% and 41.5% of the participants showed high levels of psychological distress and perceived loneliness, respectively. Psychological distress and loneliness were positively associated with problems with emotion-regulation abilities and negatively associated with academic motivation. The lack of emotional awareness, in turn, reduced their academic motivation levels. Analysis of the indirect effects showed that psychological distress affected academic motivation via awareness (β = -.02, p < .05 and β = -.03, p < .05 in males and females, respectively). Overall, the model was able to predict academic motivation in university students, explaining a reasonable percentage of the variance (14% for males and 17% for females). These results indicate a meaningful effect of students' psychological condition on academic motivation. Implications for the definition and implementation of actions to support students in managing psychological problems and feelings of loneliness and to foster students' psychological health in university settings are discussed.

Prevalence and associated factors of loneliness among in-school adolescents in three South Asian countries

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with loneliness among adolescent students in three South Asian countries.Methods: We used data from the latest Global School-Based Health Survey of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. A two-stage cluster sampling design was used to collect the cross-sectional survey data. Data from 8 089 in-school adolescents were analysed using STATA 14.0.Results: Among all the participants, the prevalence of loneliness was 14.9%. The prevalence of loneliness was significantly higher in females (19.7%), Afghan adolescents (35.5%), participants having anxiety-induced sleep disturbance (51.4%), often experiencing bullying (28.9%), feeling hungry often or always (23.9%), suffering parental emotional neglect (21.2%), and spending ≥ 8 hours/day leisure time (35.8%), than their counterparts. The final adjusted model of multiple logistic regression showed that females (OR = 1.36, 95% CI: 1.02 -1.80), having no close friends (OR = 2.00, 95% CI: 1.30 - 3.10), having an anxiety-induced sleep disturbance (OR = 5.25, 95% CI: 3.75 - 7.34), being bullied 1 to 2 days in the past month (OR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.60 - 2.84), being physically attacked 2 or more times in the past year (OR = 1.69, 95% CI: 1.26 - 2.26), suffering parental emotional neglect (OR = 1.67, 95% CI: 1.18-2.34), and current tobacco user (OR = 2.70, 95% CI: 1.39 - 5.25) had significantly higher odds of having loneliness.Conclusion: We found a higher prevalence of loneliness and identified several risk factors among in-school adolescents in three South Asian countries. To reduce loneliness among in-school adolescents, target-oriented interventions, such as peer, parental, and counselling support, are needed at schools.

Health-related behaviors and symptoms of anxiety and depression in Spanish nursing students: an observational study

Background

Symptoms of anxiety and depression are prevalent among young adults and are a significant public health issue. College students are at a higher risk of experiencing poor mental health than other young people due to several factors, including moving away from home, financial pressures, heavy workload, poor time management skills, competitivity, new processes of socialization and insufficient coping mechanisms, among others. In addition, nursing students' mental and physical health may also be affected by unhealthy lifestyle habits and health-related behaviors.

Aim

To determine the prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety, and the association between these symptoms and health-related behaviors, in a population of Spanish student nurses.

Methods

Cross-sectional study on a sample of 339 nursing students. We used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short form, the Spanish Healthy Eating Index and an "ad hoc" questionnaire for sociodemographic variables. The association between psychological symptoms and health-related behaviors was analyzed through binary logistic regression models.

Results

The prevalence of symptoms of depression and anxiety was 3.8% and 24.5%, respectively. Negative health-related behaviors were frequent, namely tobacco and alcohol consumption, suboptimal physical activity and diet. Moderate physical activity was associated with a lower probability of experiencing depressive symptoms. Symptoms of anxiety were related to a low level of physical activity, an unhealthy diet and alcohol consumption ≥2 times a week.

Conclusion

Student nurses could benefit from the implementation of both physical and mental health promotion initiatives.

Internet addiction, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms are associated with the risk of eating disorders among university students in Bangladesh

The risk of developing an eating disorder among university students is higher than the general population in Bangladesh. Since psychiatric disorders (such as depression and anxiety) and addictive behaviors (e.g., internet addiction) predominantly exist among university students in the country, these may increase their vulnerability to developing an eating disorder. The association of internet addiction, depression, and anxiety with the risk of eating disorders among Bangladeshi university students is relatively unknown; therefore, this study investigates the association. This study was a cross-sectional design. Students (N = 700) from two public universities in Bangladesh completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) tool, and Orman's Internet Addiction Survey (OIAS) to measure exposure variables. Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) assessed the outcome variable. Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that internet addiction [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for moderate addiction = 2.15 and severe addiction = 3.95], depressive (aOR 3.04), and anxiety (aOR 2.06) symptoms were associated with an increased risk of eating disorder among study participants. Future longitudinal studies on university students are recommended to gain a better understanding about the causal factors of eating disorder to support intervention initiatives and strategies by public health practitioners and policy experts.

Prevalence and predictors of binge eating disorder symptoms among a sample of university students in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional survey

Background and Aims

There is a dearth of information about binge eating disorder (BED) among Bangladeshi university students, who may be more susceptible to BED due to the rise in unhealthy lifestyles and food habits. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of BED symptoms among Bangladeshi university students.

Methods

Students (N = 525) from three public universities in Bangladesh participated in this cross-sectional study between November 2022 and March 2023. Face-to-face interviews were conducted using a structured paper-based questionnaire that included two validated survey tools; the binge eating disorder screener and the patient health questionnaire-9. To identify the factors associated with BED symptoms, multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted, with sociodemographic and behavioral information (e.g., age, sex, smoking status, etc.) considered as covariates.

Results

The prevalence of BED symptoms among participants (mean age 21.28 years, 50.3% male and 49.7% female) was 20.6%. Male students had a 2.28 times higher likelihood of having BED symptoms compared to female counterparts (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 2.28; 95% CI: 1.33-3.89). Older students (AOR = 3.56, 95% CI: 1.80-7.05), students who were overweight or obese (AOR = 3.32, 95% CI: 1.87-5.89), and students reporting higher depressive symptoms (AOR = 2.69, 95% CI: 1.66-4.35) were at greater risk for developing BED compared to their respective counterparts.

Conclusions

This study provides new insights into the prevalence of BED symptoms and its contributing factors among Bangladeshi students. Approximately 1-in-5 university students reported having BED symptoms. University students who are older, overweight, or obese, and who report depressive symptoms may be at greatest risk. Future longitudinal studies are needed to determine the causal factors underlying BED. Findings from this study can assist policymakers and public health professionals in developing effective and targeted strategies to mitigate the risks associated with BED among Bangladeshi university students.

StackDPP: Stacking-Based Explainable Classifier for Depression Prediction and Finding the Risk Factors among Clinicians

Mental health is a major concern for all classes of people, but especially physicians in the present world. A challenging task is to identify the significant risk factors that are responsible for depression among physicians. To address this issue, the study aimed to build a machine learning-based predictive model that will be capable of predicting depression levels and finding associated risk factors. A raw dataset was collected to conduct this study and preprocessed as necessary. Then, the dataset was divided into 10 sub-datasets to determine the best possible set of attributes to predict depression. Seven different classification algorithms, KNN, DT, LGBM, GB, RF, ETC, and StackDPP, were applied to all the sub-datasets. StackDPP is a stacking-based ensemble classifier, which is proposed in this study. It was found that StackDPP outperformed on all the datasets. The findings indicate that the StackDPP with the sub-dataset with all the attributes gained the highest accuracy (0.962581), and the top 20 attributes were enough to gain 0.96129 accuracy by StackDPP, which was close to the performance of the dataset with all the attributes. In addition, risk factors were analyzed in this study to reveal the most significant risk factors that are responsible for depression among physicians. The findings of the study indicate that the proposed model is highly capable of predicting the level of depression, along with finding the most significant risk factors. The study will enable mental health professionals and psychiatrists to decide on treatment and therapy for physicians by analyzing the depression level and finding the most significant risk factors.

Loneliness and its associated factors among university students during late stage of COVID-19 pandemic: An online cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a number of psychosocial and emotional catastrophes, including loneliness. The associated lockdowns, reduced social support, and insufficiently perceived interactions are expected to heighten the level of loneliness during the pandemic. However, there is a dearth of evidence regarding the level of loneliness and what correlates with loneliness among university students in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVES

The general objective of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of loneliness among university students during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was undertaken. An online data collection tool was distributed to voluntary undergraduate university students. The sampling technique used was snowball sampling. Students were requested to pass the online data collection tool to at least one of their friends to ease data collection. SPSS version 26.0 was used for data analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to report the results. Binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with loneliness. A P-value less than 0.2 was used to screen variables for the multivariable analysis, and a P-value less than 0.05 was used to declare significance in the final multivariable logistic regression.

RESULT

A total of 426 study participants responded. Out of the total, 62.9% were males, and 37.1% attended fields related to health. Over three-fourths (76.5%) of the study participants encountered loneliness. Females (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.75; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.01, 3.04), non-health-related departments (AOR: 1.94; 95% CI: 1.17, 3.35), ever encountering sexual harassment (AOR: 3.32; 95% CI: 1.46, 7.53), sleeping problems (AOR: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.06, 4.30), perceived stress (AOR: 6.40; 95% CI: 1.85, 22.19) and poor social support (AOR: 3.13; 95% CI: 1.10, 8.87) were significantly associated with loneliness.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

A significant proportion of students were victims of loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being female, working in non-health-related fields, having sleeping problems, encountering sexual harassment, perceived stress, and poor social support were significantly associated with loneliness. Interventions to reduce loneliness should focus on related psychosocial support to reduce stress, sleeping disturbances, and poor social support. A special focus should also be given to female students.

Linking Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms with Diet Quality of University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic in India

This study examines the association of depressive and anxiety symptoms with diet quality among university students while controlling for different demographic and other health and lifestyle factors. This cross-sectional study was carried out between April 2021 and June 2021 among a total of 440 (unweighted) university students. Diet quality was assessed using a 10-item mini-dietary assessment index tool. The depressive and anxiety symptoms of participants were measured using the validated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) scale, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression and mediation analyses were performed. In this study, 61.1% (95% CI: 56.6% to 65.7%) of university students' diet quality was good during the COVID-19 pandemic. Being a post-graduate student, an urban resident, having no depressive (AOR = 2.15, 95% CI: 1.20 to 3.84) and anxiety symptoms (AOR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.07 to 3.59), no changes or improvement in appetite, and no changes in sleep duration were significantly associated with good diet quality among our study participants. Depressive and anxiety symptoms during COVID-19 had a significant effect on the diet quality of university students. Future public health policies need to be focused on improving the mental health and well-being of students particularly during pandemic situations to enhance their diet quality.

Loneliness and its correlates among Bangladeshi older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of loneliness and its associated factors among older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was conducted in October 2020 among 1032 older Bangladeshi adults aged 60 years and above through telephone interviews. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect information on participants' characteristics and COVID-19-related information. Meanwhile, the level of loneliness was measured using a 3-item UCLA Loneliness scale. More than half (51.5%) of the older adults experienced loneliness. We found that participants formally schooled [adjusted odds ratio (aOR = 0.62, 95% CI 0.43-0.88)] and received COVID-19-related information from health workers (aOR = 0.33, 95% CI 0.22-0.49) had lower odds of being lonely during the pandemic. However, older adults living alone (aOR: 2.57, 95% CI 1.34-4.94), residing distant from a health facility (aOR = 1.46, 95% CI 1.02-2.08) and in rural areas (aOR = 1.53, 95% CI 1.02-2.23) had higher odds of loneliness than their counterparts. Likewise, odds of loneliness were higher among those overwhelmed by COVID-19 (aOR = 1.93, 95% CI 1.29-2.86), who faced difficulty in earning (aOR = 1.77, 95% CI 1.18-2.67) and receiving routine medical care during pandemic (aOR = 2.94, 95% CI 1.78-4.87), and those perceiving requiring additional care during the pandemic (aOR = 6.01, 95% CI 3.80-9.49). The findings suggest that policies and plans should be directed to reduce loneliness among older adults who require additional care.

Validity and reliability of the Patient Health Questionnaire scale (PHQ-9) among university students of Bangladesh

This study investigated the reliability and factorial validity of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) in the context of university students in Bangladesh. The research aimed to assess whether the original one-dimensional model or a model containing both somatic and cognitive-emotional factors is appropriate in the case of a sample of university students. A repeated cross-sectional survey design based on convenience sampling was used to collect data from 677 university students from both public and private universities. The factor structure of the PHQ-9 was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Measurement invariances were assessed across gender, type of university, level of education and victim of domestic violence. Its convergent validity was determined by investigating its correlations with Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire Anxiety-Depression Scale (PHQ-ADS). Results showed excellent reliability of PHQ-9 as measured by both Cronbach's α and McDonald's ω. CFA suggested that a modified one-factor model where the error variances between item-3 ('sleeping difficulties') and item-6 ('feeling as a failure'), item-6 and item-9 ('suicidal thoughts'), item-4 ('feeling tired') and item-9, item-3 and item-9 were allowed to covary is appropriate for the sample. This model provided high values of comparative fit index (CFI), goodness of fit index (GFI), and Tucker Lewis Index (TLI), low value of standardized root mean square residual (SRMR) and a non-significant root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) as well as a high Factor Determinacy Score Coefficient. Correlation between PHQ-9 and GAD-7 was 0.751 and 0.934 between PHQ-9 and PHQ-ADS. Finally, the model is strictly invariant across gender and university type. Overall, the study provided support for modified unidimensional structure for PHQ-9 and showed high internal consistency along with good convergent validity.