Department of Community Health and Primary Care, College of medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba, Lagos State, Nigeria.
Department of Family Medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos State, Nigeria.
PLoS One. 2023 Apr 26;18(4):e0284955. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284955. eCollection 2023.
Depression is a common mental illness affecting majority of the world's population. However, evidence has shown that undergraduates are at an even higher risk compared to the general population, of developing depression due to the various challenges they face during that period. Suicide has been discovered to be the second leading cause of death among young people. Suicide ideation has been proven to be a predictor for not only suicide attempts but also completed suicides. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess depression and suicidal ideation among undergraduates in the state tertiary institutions in Lagos, Nigeria.
This study was a descriptive, cross-sectional study carried out among undergraduates in two state tertiary institutions in Lagos, Nigeria using self-administered questionnaire. A total of 750 respondents were recruited using the multistage sampling technique. Data was analysed using SPSS version 27 and the level of significance was set at p -value < 0.05.
The survey was conducted among undergraduates in the two state tertiary institutions in Lagos State: Lagos State University (48.3%) and Lagos State Polytechnic (51.7%). The mean age of the respondents was 21.5 (2.7) years. Majority of the respondents were females (54%), single (98.1%), Christians (70.3%), and the source of income of majority of the students was parents (72.8%). From the case vignette used in the questionnaire, 47.6% of the respondents were able to correctly identify depression. The prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation in this study was 22.5% and 21.6% respectively. Depression was statistically significantly associated with suicidal ideation (p < .001). Risk factors that were statistically significantly associated with depression and suicidal ideation were low self-esteem (p < .001), intake of recreational drugs (p < .001), alcohol dependence (p < .001), and positive history of bullying (p < .001).
The proportion of respondents with good knowledge of depression was not satisfactory. A strong relationship was found between depression and suicidal ideation indicating that people with depression are at a high risk of having suicidal ideation. Risk factors that were associated with depression and suicidal ideation were bullying, low self-esteem, intake of recreational drugs, alcohol dependence, poor academic performance, sexual assault and being hit by a partner. More works need to be done by the government and non-governmental organisations, school administration and parents to increase the awareness on the symptoms and manifestations of depression and reduce the burden created by some of the risk factors identified in this study to combat depression and suicidal ideation.
抑郁症是一种常见的精神疾病，影响着世界上大多数人的健康。然而，有证据表明，与普通人群相比，大学生面临着更高的患抑郁症的风险，因为他们在这个时期面临着各种挑战。自杀已被发现是年轻人的第二大死因。自杀意念已被证明不仅是自杀企图的预测因素，也是自杀完成的预测因素。因此，本研究旨在评估尼日利亚拉各斯州立三级机构大学生的抑郁和自杀意念。
这是一项描述性的、横断面研究，在尼日利亚拉各斯州的两所州立三级机构的大学生中进行，使用自我管理问卷。使用多级抽样技术共招募了 750 名应答者。使用 SPSS 版本 27 进行数据分析，显著性水平设为 p 值<0.05。
这项调查是在拉各斯州的两所州立三级机构的大学生中进行的：拉各斯州立大学（48.3%）和拉各斯州立理工学院（51.7%）。应答者的平均年龄为 21.5（2.7）岁。大多数应答者是女性（54%）、单身（98.1%）、基督教徒（70.3%），大多数学生的收入来源是父母（72.8%）。在问卷中使用的病例情节中，47.6%的应答者能够正确识别抑郁症。本研究中抑郁和自杀意念的患病率分别为 22.5%和 21.6%。抑郁与自杀意念呈统计学显著相关（p<0.001）。与抑郁和自杀意念呈统计学显著相关的危险因素是低自尊（p<0.001）、使用娱乐性药物（p<0.001）、酒精依赖（p<0.001）和有被欺凌的阳性史（p<0.001）。
对抑郁症有良好认识的应答者比例并不令人满意。抑郁与自杀意念之间存在很强的关系，表明患有抑郁症的人有很高的自杀意念风险。与抑郁和自杀意念相关的危险因素是欺凌、低自尊、使用娱乐性药物、酒精依赖、学业成绩差、性侵犯和被伴侣殴打。政府和非政府组织、学校管理部门和家长需要做更多的工作，提高对抑郁症症状和表现的认识，减少本研究确定的一些危险因素造成的负担，以防治抑郁症和自杀意念。
