Epidemiology of depression and anxiety among undergraduate students

Association between body mass index and mental health among nurses: a cross-sectional study in China

PURPOSE

To examine the correlation between body mass index (BMI) and mental well-being in Chinese nurses during the COVID-19 epidemic.

METHOD

This study was conducted in a tertiary hospital using a cross-sectional design. A total of 2,811 nurses were enlisted at Shengjing Hospital in China during the period from March to April, 2022. Information was gathered through a questionnaire that individuals completed themselves. The mental health of the participants was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment-7. Binary logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals.

RESULTS

The prevalence of nurses experiencing depression and anxiety was 7.8% (219) and 6.7% (189), respectively. Regarding depression after adjustment, the odds ratios (ORs) for each quartile, compared to the lowest quartile, were as follows: 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.53, 1.56), 2.28 (95% CI: 0.98, 3.77), and 2.32 (95% CI: 1.41, 3.83). The p-value for trend was found to be 0.001. The odds ratios (ORs) for anxiety after adjustment were 2.39 (0.83, 4.36), 4.46 (0.51, 7.93), and 2.81 (1.56, 5.08) when comparing the highest quartiles to the lowest quartile. The p-value for trend was 0.009.

CONCLUSION

This study found a positive association between BMI and poor mental health among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in those who were overweight or obesity. The findings could assist in developing interventions and help policy-makers establish appropriate strategies to support the mental health of frontline nurses, especially those who are overweight or obesity.

Smart phone addiction and its mental health risks among university students in Jordan: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Addiction to smart phones is classified clinically as behavioral addiction resulted from an excessive problematic usage of smart phones that effect the daily life of the users. Therefore, this study aims to explore the prevalence of smart phone addiction, its associated psychological distress risk, and its associated predictors among university students in Jordan.

METHODS

Between November 2022 and January 2023, a cross-sectional online survey study was conducted in Jordan. In this study, we used previously developed questionnaire instruments, the psychological Distress scale of Kessler and the Smartphone Addiction Scale. A score of 30 was used to identify the dummy variable in the binary logistic regression analysis to identify predictors of severe psychological distress, and smartphone addiction score of 38.7 was used to to identify predictors of smartphone addiction.

RESULTS

A total of 2337 university students participated in this study. The mean psychological distress score for the study participants was 30.0 (SD: 8.9). More than half of the study participants (59.1%) had a psychological distress score of 30 and above, which indicates a severe mental disorder state. More than half of the study participants (56.7%) had a smartphone addiction score of 30 and above, which reflects a smartphone addiction state. Females, divorced, those who feel that their mental abilities have been negatively affected by the use of smart phones, those who feel that using smartphones has affected their sleep and made it harder to fall asleep, and those feel that everything requires effort and fatigue, and they do not want to do any activity that requires effort were more likely to have severe psychological distress compared to others (p < 0.05). Females, those who feel that using smartphones has affected their sleep and made it harder to fall asleep, and those feel that everything requires effort and fatigue, and they do not want to do any activity that requires effort were more likely to be smartphone addicted compared to others (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Mental diseases are a major public health concern in Jordan, especially among university students. Females, those who thought smartphone usage hurt their mental capacities, and those who had trouble sleeping and fatigue were more likely to develop serious psychological discomfort and smartphone addiction. Smartphones are indispensable, but excessive use can lead to addiction and harm university students' mental health.

Assessing Social Determinants of Health Among Patients With Depression at Primary Healthcare Centers in Riyadh City

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

 Depression is a common and serious medical illness that is greatly influenced by socioeconomic, demographic, and biological factors. The recognition of social determinants of depression can help reduce the risk factors and promote mental health. The purpose of this study was to assess the social determinants of health (SDOH) of patients with depression and to classify its categories at primary healthcare centers (PHCs) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

METHODOLOGY

 A cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted among 322 participants who were selected through a convenience sampling technique from June 2021 to August 2022. The study included Saudi and non-Saudi patients at the Ministry of Health PHCs in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, aged 12 years and older. Independent samples of t-test and one-way ANOVA test were used to assess differences in means of numerical variables. Correlations were made by the Pearson correlation coefficient. A p-value of <0.05 was set as the level of statistical significance. Logistic regression was used to determine the main variables associated with moderate to severe depression.

RESULTS

The findings showed 51% had minimal to mild depression, 27% had moderate depression, and 22% had moderately severe to severe depression. A greater proportion of females had moderate to severe depression (61%) (p=0.007). Also, moderate to severe depression was higher in those with lower monthly income(54%)(p=0.03). Saudi nationals were found to have a higher percentage of moderate to severe depression(51%)(p=0.007). Marital status was found to be associated with depression as single respondents were more likely to have moderate to severe depression (p=0.052) with 54%.

CONCLUSION

SDOH including gender, income, marital status, and nationality are associated with depression. Having a comprehensive system focusing not only on mental health services but also on the social determinants of mental health is very important. Future research is needed to understand the association between depression and SDOH in Saudi Arabia. The study results can help policymakers determine the areas that require improvements.

Depression Among University Students in Jordan After the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background

University students encounter stressors that make them more susceptible to depression than the general population. Depression negatively impacts mental and physical health. Our study assessed the prevalence of depression among university students in Jordan and its associated predictors after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

We conducted this cross-sectional online survey study in the first quarter of 2022 by sending an online questionnaire to university students aged 18 years and older. This study assessed the symptoms of depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9). Binary logistic regression analysis was used to identify associated predictors of depression.

Results

A total of 535 university students participated in this study. The mean depression score for the study participants was 13.9 (SD: 7.1) out of 27, representing a moderate level of depression. Among the participants, 26.2% had moderate, 19.3% had moderately severe, and 25.8% had severe depression. Students who drink three or more cups of coffee per day, have had an evaluation of their psychological state by specialists before, and have been diagnosed with any mental illness were more likely to have a higher depression score compared to others (p<0.05). On the other hand, students who were aged 24 years and older and those who practiced regular exercise were less likely to have a higher depression score compared to others (p<0.05).

Conclusion

We found a high prevalence of depression among university students in Jordan. This result is vital for decision-makers to implement a plan to prevent and manage this mental health issue.

Nomophobia among university students in five Arab countries in the Middle East: prevalence and risk factors

BACKGROUND

Excessive use of mobile phones leading to development of symptoms suggestive of dependence syndrome with teenagers are far more likely to become dependent on mobile phones as compared to adults. COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact on the mental health of several groups in society, especially university students. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of mobile phone dependence among university students and its associated factors.

METHODS

Between September 2021 and January 2022, a cross-sectional study was conducted at universities in Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia utilizing an online and paper-based self-administered questionnaire. We employed a previously developed questionnaire by Aggarwal et al. RESULTS: A total of 5,720 university students were involved in this study (Egypt = 2813, Saudi Arabia = 1509, Jordan = 766, Lebanon = 432, and Bahrain = 200). The mean estimated daily time spent on using mobile phone was 186.4 (94.4) minutes. The highest mobile dependence score was observed for the university students from Egypt and the lowest mobile dependence score was observed for the university students from Lebanon. The most common dependence criteria across the study sample was impaired control (55.6%) and the least common one was harmful use (25.1%). Females and those reported having anxiety problem or using a treatment for anxiety were at higher risk of developing mobile phone dependence by 15% and 75%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Mobile phone dependence is common among university students in Arab countries in the Middle East region. Future studies exploring useful interventions to decrease mobile phone dependence are warranted.

Research trends of exercise therapy of college students in depression from 2002 to 2022: a bibliometric analysis

Background

Depression is a serious psychological disorder that college students are experiencing. College students' depression problems, which can be caused by various factors, have been easily ignored and untreated. In recent years, exercise, as a low-cost and easily accessible method for treating depression, has attracted widespread attention. The purpose of this study is to use bibliometrics to explore the hotspots and trends in the field of exercise therapy of college students in depression from 2002 to 2022.

Methods

We retrieved relevant literature from the Web of Science (WoS), PubMed, and Scopus databases, and generated a ranking table to describe the core productivity in the field. We used VOSViewer software to generate network maps of authors, countries, co-cited journals, and co-occurring keywords to help us better understand the scientific collaboration patterns, potential disciplinary foundations, as well as research hotspots and trends in this field.

Results

From 2002 to 2022, a total of 1,397 articles related to exercise therapy of college students in depression were selected. The key findings of this study are as follows: (1) the number of publications has gradually increased, especially after 2019; (2) United States and its affiliated higher education institutions have made significant contributions to the development of this field; (3) there are multiple research groups in this field, but their connections are relatively limited; (4) the field is relatively interdisciplinary, primarily a convergence of behavioral science, public health, and psychology; (5) based on co-occurring keyword analysis, six main themes were summarized: health-promoting factors, body image, negative behaviors, increased stress, depression coping strategies, and diet.

Conclusion

Our study illustrates the research hotspots and trends for the research of exercise therapy of college students in depression, presents some challenges and new insights, and provides valuable information for further research.

The effect of problem-solving and assertiveness training on self-esteem and mental health of female adolescents: a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND

Children and adolescents are the assets of the society and their mental and physical health ensures the future health of next generations. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the effect of problem-solving and assertiveness skill training on improving self-esteem and mental health in high school female students of Isfahan city in 2019.

METHODS

This study was a randomized clinical trial. The target population was 10th grade female high school students in Isfahan city of Iran. 96 students of a female public high school were included in  the study, allocated to two groups, 32 for intervention group and 64 for control group. Six 90-min sessions were considered for problem-solving and assertiveness skill training which included lectures, question and answer, movie displaying, brainstorming and role-play. The Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory Questionnaire (CSEI) and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) were used in order to evaluate the variables of the study before and one month after the intervention.

RESULTS

Mean scores of the self-esteem variable changed significantly in the intervention group compared to control group before (25.2 ± 2.905) and after (29.9 ± 4.155) the intervention (p < 0.05). Mean scores of mental health also changed significantly before (27.67 ± 5.42) and after (19.033 ± 4.9) the intervention in comparison with the control group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The findings of the present study showed that educational intervention based on problem-solving and assertiveness can  enhance self-esteem and mental health in students. Future studies are needed to confirm and determine the structure of these associations. Trial Registration IRCT Code: IRCT20171230038142N9. Registration Date: 07/07/2019. Ethics Code: IR.MUI.MED.REC.1398.130.

Academic burnout among master and doctoral students during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 outbreak has had an immense impact on academic life and public health. Graduate students had experienced obligatory curfews and quarantines due to the COVID-19 outbreak directly impacting their mental health and triggering academic burnout. In this cross-sectional study, we address the issue of mental health in graduate students by relating it to the factors associated with burnout syndrome during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 519 graduate students from master's and Ph.D./DLA degrees across universities in Hungary and other European countries participated in this study. The Copenhagen burnout inventory student version was used to evaluate burnout syndrome as an outcome. Our findings displayed burnout significantly lower among graduate students who had good sleep quality, receive high levels of support from their university, and were satisfied with how their university dealt with the pandemic. The excessive consumption of alcohol, the use of antidepressants, being single, and thinking about dropping out showed as predictive factors of burnout. The results add to emergent evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and the predicted factors of academic burnout among master and doctoral students.

Physical Activity, Burnout, and Engagement in Latin American Students of Higher Education During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a devastating physical and psychological impact on society, especially on students. In this study, we describe the levels of physical activity (Physical-Activity-Questionnaire-Short-Form (IPAQ-SF)), Burnout (School-Burnout-Inventory for students (SBI-U)) and engagement (Utrecht-Work-Engagement-Scale-9 items (UWES-9S)) in a cohort of Latin American higher education students during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. We also determined whether physical activity, Burnout, and engagement are related according to gender and area of study. Self-reported data from 571 Latin American students (64.79% women, 34.15% men; average age 25.24 ± 5.52 years) were collected via an online survey questionnaire. Spearman correlation analyses evaluated the associations between physical activity, Burnout, and engagement. Comparative analyses by gender and field of study were also performed. The results showed no correlation or association in the linear regression between the IPAQ-SF and SBI-U scores or between the IPAQ-SF and the UWES-9S scores. By gender, men had higher IPAQ-SF scores (p < 0.05) and reported higher intensity physical activity than women, but women had higher SBI-U scores (p < 0.05). No difference was found between men and women according to the UWES-9S scores (p = 0.28). There was also no difference in IPAQ-SF scores (p = 0.29) regarding the field of study. Our results suggest that women perform less physical activity than men, which is consistent with higher Burnout. However, physical activity was not associated with Burnout or engagement overall, which indicates that it was insufficient to prevent emotional stress in Latin American higher education students during a pandemic.

Prevalence and Predictive Factors of Masked Depression and Anxiety among Jordanian and Palestinian Couples: A Cross-Sectional Study

Although anxiety and depression are among the most prevalent mental disorders worldwide, they continue to gain less attention than their physical counterparts in terms of health care provision and population mentalisation. This cross-sectional study explores and compares the national prevalence of depression and anxiety signs/symptoms and well as identifying associated socio-demographic factors among Jordanian and Palestinian fertile couples. Four-hundred and sixty-nine participants were eligible for inclusion and agreed to participate in the study. The mean score for HAM-A and BDI-II were 12.3 ± 8.2 and 15.30 ± 10.0, respectively. According to the grading of HAM-A and BDI-II, the majority of the participants have graded themselves to be mildly anxious (N = 323, 68.9%) and around one third of participants (N = 148, 31.6%) moderately to severe depressed. The suicidal intent was remarkable and of concern where around 18.6% of participants had suicidal thoughts and wishes. There was a significant correlation between both HAM-score and BDI-II score and age [p = 0.01, p = 0.011, respectively], body weight [p = 0.01, p = 0.006, respectively], and total monthly income [p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively]. Our findings ought to alert healthcare professionals and other interested parties that there is a high burden of anxiety and depression symptoms among Jordanian and Palestinian couples. To support Jordanian and Palestinian couples’ mental health, healthcare professionals, researchers, and educators favoured to concentrate on creating efficient and culturally relevant education, preventive, and intervention procedures utilising evidence-based guidelines.

Use of latent profile analysis and k-means clustering to identify student anxiety profiles

BACKGROUND

Anxiety disorders are often the first presentation of psychopathology in youth and are considered the most common psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents. This study aimed to identify distinct student anxiety profiles to develop targeted interventions.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 9738 students in Yingshan County. Background characteristics were collected and Mental Health Test (MHT) were completed. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was applied to define student anxiety profiles, and then the analysis was repeated using k-means clustering.

RESULTS

LPA yielded 3 profiles: the low-risk, mild-risk and high-risk groups, which comprised 29.5, 38.1 and 32.4% of the sample, respectively. Repeating the analysis using k-means clustering resulted in similar groupings. Most students in a particular k-means cluster were primarily in a single LPA-derived student profile. The multinomial ordinal logistic regression results showed that the high-risk group was more likely to be female, junior, and introverted, to live in a town, to have lower or average academic performance, to have heavy or average academic pressure, and to be in schools that have never or occasionally have organized mental health education activities.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings suggest that students with anxiety symptoms may be categorized into distinct profiles that are amenable to varying strategies for coordinated interventions.

The Prevalence of Mental Distress and Social Support among University Students in Jordan: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objectives: To examine the prevalence of mental distress among university students in Jordan. Methods: An online cross-sectional study using a self-administered questionnaire was conducted between 12th of June and the 4th of August 2021 in Jordan to measure student mental stress using Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20 (SRQ-20). Results: A total of 1063 university students participated in the study. One-third of the participating students reported that they had a history of COVID-19 infection. More than half of the participating university students (65.7%) were found to have mental distress (measured symptomatically by the SRQ-20 with a score of eight or more). The average mental distress score was 9.8 (SD: 5.5) out of 20. Female students, students from non-medical colleges, students in their last years of study, students with chronic diseases and those with low income were associated with high levels of mental distress (p < 0.05). With regards to social support, a moderate level of social support was received from three sources: persons considered as significant others, family members, and friends. The average social support score for the participating university students was 41.9 (SD: 10.3) out of 60 (equivalent to 69.8%). Conclusions: Mental distress is prevalent among university students in Jordan. There is a need for evidence-based governmental strategies and interventions that provide social support at universities such as self-help measures and professional mental health services as part of student health services that would be helpful to reduce the burden of mental distress of students and promote the mission of the integration of mental health in all university policies.