Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, 60El-Gomhoria Street, Mansoura, 35516, Egypt.
Alpha Research Organization (ARO), Mansoura, Egypt.
BMC Psychiatry. 2023 Mar 6;23(1):139. doi: 10.1186/s12888-023-04624-z.
Mental health disorders are a major public health concern especially among undergraduates, globally and within Egypt. Most individuals suffering from mental illnesses either do not seek care at all or seek it only after a large delay. It is therefore critical to identify the barriers that prevent them from seeking professional help to solve the problem from its roots. Thus, the objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence of psychological distress, the need for professional mental health care, and the barriers to seeking available services among undergraduate students in Egypt.
A proportionate allocation technique was used to recruit 3240 undergraduates from 21 universities. Symptoms of psychological distress were evaluated using the Arabic General Health Questionnaire (AGHQ-28) and a score of above nine was used to identify positive cases. The pattern for utilization of mental health care was assessed using a multi-choice question and barriers to mental health care were assessed using the Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE- 30) tool. Logistic regression was adopted to identify the predictors of psychological distress and seeking professional health care.
The prevalence of psychological distress was 64.7% and the need for professional mental health care was 90.3% of those with psychological distress. The top barrier to receiving professional mental health services was wanting to solve the problem on their own. Logistic regression revealed that female sex, living away from family and positive family history of mental disorders were independent predictors of psychological distress. Students from urban backgrounds were more likely to seek help than students from rural ones. While age above 20 and positive family history of mental disorders were independent predictors for seeking professional help. There is no significant difference between medical and non-medical students in terms of psychological distress.
The findings of the study showed there is a high prevalence of psychological distress and a lot of instrumental and attitudinal related barriers to seeking mental health care and highlighted the urgent need to develop interventions and preventive strategies to address the mental health of university students.
心理健康障碍是一个主要的公共卫生问题，尤其是在全球范围内以及在埃及的大学生中。大多数患有精神疾病的人要么根本不去寻求治疗，要么在大量拖延后才去寻求治疗。因此，确定阻止他们寻求专业帮助以从根本上解决问题的障碍至关重要。因此，本研究的目的是评估埃及大学生中心理困扰的患病率、对专业心理健康护理的需求以及寻求现有服务的障碍。
采用比例分配技术从 21 所大学招募了 3240 名本科生。使用阿拉伯一般健康问卷（AGHQ-28）评估心理困扰症状，得分超过 9 分表明存在阳性病例。使用多项选择问题评估心理健康护理的利用模式，使用障碍评估工具（BACE-30）评估心理健康护理的障碍。采用逻辑回归分析确定心理困扰和寻求专业健康护理的预测因素。
心理困扰的患病率为 64.7%，有心理困扰的人中 90.3%需要专业的心理健康护理。接受专业心理健康服务的最大障碍是希望自己解决问题。逻辑回归显示，女性、远离家庭和精神障碍阳性家族史是心理困扰的独立预测因素。来自城市背景的学生比来自农村背景的学生更有可能寻求帮助。而 20 岁以上和精神障碍阳性家族史是寻求专业帮助的独立预测因素。在心理困扰方面，医学生和非医学生之间没有显著差异。
研究结果表明，心理困扰的患病率很高，寻求心理健康护理存在很多工具性和态度性障碍，迫切需要制定干预措施和预防策略来解决大学生的心理健康问题。
