Development of New Tool to Measure Depression among Professional Undergraduate University Students

Abstract

Aim: The present study focused on determining the prevalence of depression among undergraduate university students. It also compared the level of depression in first and graduating year students.

Methods: A validated questionnaire MBS was developed which includes the demographic characteristics and depression scale. This questionnaire was distributed to 1638 students of five departments- Allied health science, Nursing, Pharmacy, Hospitality and Architecture of two universities. Analysis was done using SPSS software.

Results: The present study showed that 81.7% students were identified having depression with different levels. Females were found more depressed with 46.05% in comparison with male students 29.18%. The level of depression was more severe in females (3.6%) than males (1.8%). The significant difference was observed in levels of depression among different academic level of students (fresher, juniors, senior and graduating). The graduating students were identified for having severe depression in comparison with  freshers.

Conclusion: The present study showed that the students identified as severe depressed were also clinically verified by the psychiatrists to be depressed hence validating the results. Female students were more depressed than males. The developed MBS questionnaire can be very handy in determining the severe depression cases in educational institutes as a pre- clinical tool.