Department of Public Health, Aksum University College of Health Science and Referral Hospital, P.O. Box: 1010, Aksum, Ethiopia.
Department of Psychiatric Nursing, Aksum University College of Health Science, Referral Hospital, P.O. Box: 1010, Aksum, Ethiopia.
BMC Psychiatry. 2019 Feb 13;19(1):71. doi: 10.1186/s12888-019-2051-5.
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.
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.
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.
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.
精神困扰在埃塞俄比亚正成为一个常见的健康问题。精神困扰在大学生中的发生率高于普通人群。然而，在埃塞俄比亚的这种情况下，相关信息不足。本研究旨在确定阿克苏姆大学普通本科学生精神困扰的发生率及相关因素。
2016 年 5 月 10 日至 20 日，采用基于机构的横断面研究，对 919 名学生进行了调查。学生采用分层多阶段抽样技术进行选择。使用预先测试和结构化的自我管理问卷收集数据。收集的数据输入 EPI-INFO 版本 7，然后导出到 SPSS 版本 21 进行分析。采用双变量和多变量二项逻辑回归模型来确定与大学生精神困扰相关的因素。
近十分之四（39.6%）的学生存在精神困扰。女生（AOR=1.7，95%CI：1.20，2.34）、社会支持低（AOR=3.05，95%CI：1.97，4.72）、新生（AOR=1.73，95%CI：1.10，2.71）、与朋友发生冲突（AOR=1.5，95%CI：1.03，1.90）、经济问题（AOR=2.20，95%CI：1.59，2.92）、精神障碍家族史（AOR=2.10，95%CI：1.37，3.21）、成绩较低（AOR=1.51，95%CI：1.03，1.61）、与教师发生争执（AOR=1.52，95%CI：1.12，2.07）和学习领域（AOR=1.56，95%CI：1.03，2.37）与精神困扰显著相关。
本研究表明，阿克苏姆大学学生的精神困扰程度较高。一些社会和经济因素与学生的精神困扰显著相关。因此，决策者、大学官员和其他利益相关者需要特别关注精神困扰问题，并及时采取纠正措施。
