Mamun Mohammed A, Naher Shabnam, Moonajilin Mst Sabrina, Jobayar Ahsanul Mahbub, Rayhan Istihak, Kircaburun Kagan, Griffiths Mark D
Department of Public Health and Informatics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Undergraduate Research Organization, Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Heliyon. 2020 Sep 21;6(9):e04901. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04901. eCollection 2020 Sep.
Preventing depression and helping individuals to become more resilient to depression, awareness-related programs have been suggested. To implement such programs, depression literacy (D-Lit) assessment is needed. However, little information is known about it in Bangladesh, and this gap was addressed - in the present study.
An online-based cross-sectional survey was carried out among 404 university students (62.6% male; 69.3% undergraduates, mean age = 22.35 ± 2.69 years). The survey included questions asking about socio-demographics, personal and family depression history, its' stigma and related programs, and the 20-item Bangla Depression Literacy questionnaire.
The results showed a mean score of 9.30 (SD = 2.75; out of total 20 scores) on the Bangla D-Lit scale. Participants had very limited knowledge of the psychotic symptoms, impact, and management subscales. Moreover, nine items out of the total twenty-items were answered correctly by at least 50% of the participants. There were no significant D-Lit score differences based on gender and past-year personal history, and family depression history. Structural equation modeling indicated that having knowledge about depression and attending depression seminars were positively related to elevated depression literacy.
The study has some limitations due to its cross-sectional study nature and modest sample size. In addition, there the assessment of depression did not use a validated psychometric instrument and the D-Lit comprises multiple-choice responses so the real rate of depression literacy may be even lower than that found because participants could have guessed answers that they did not know.
Findings from this study suggest that depression literacy was low in the population studied and the findings here will help to facilitate mental health literacy awareness programs in the context of Bangladeshi students as well as those outside the country.
为预防抑郁症并帮助个体增强对抑郁症的抵抗力，有人提出了与认知相关的项目。为实施此类项目，需要进行抑郁素养（D-Lit）评估。然而，在孟加拉国，关于这方面的信息知之甚少，本研究填补了这一空白。
对404名大学生进行了一项基于网络的横断面调查（男性占62.6%；本科生占69.3%，平均年龄 = 22.35 ± 2.69岁）。该调查包括询问社会人口统计学、个人和家族抑郁病史、其污名化及相关项目，以及一份包含20个条目的孟加拉语抑郁素养问卷。
孟加拉语D-Lit量表的平均得分为9.30（标准差 = 2.75；满分20分）。参与者对精神病性症状、影响和管理子量表的了解非常有限。此外，在总共20个条目中，至少50%的参与者正确回答了9个条目。基于性别、过去一年的个人病史和家族抑郁病史，抑郁素养得分没有显著差异。结构方程模型表明，对抑郁症的了解和参加抑郁症研讨会与提高抑郁素养呈正相关。
由于本研究的横断面研究性质和样本量适中，存在一些局限性。此外，抑郁症评估未使用经过验证的心理测量工具，且抑郁素养评估包括多项选择题，所以实际的抑郁素养率可能比所发现的还要低，因为参与者可能会猜测他们不知道的答案。
本研究结果表明，在所研究的人群中抑郁素养较低，这里的研究结果将有助于在孟加拉国学生以及其他国家的学生中推动心理健康素养认知项目。
