Epidemiological Study of Depression Among Students in a Tertiary Institution: A Case Study at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife

Abstract

Many students are daily exposed to many stressors and are therefore prone to depression without knowing it. The main objectives of this study include finding out the depressive level of the students and the predictors for their depression. The study was carried on 262 students from Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife. Osun State, Nigeria. Depression Status Inventory (DSI) developed by Zung (1965, 1972) was used to obtain the data on depressive levels of the participants. The independent variables are the 20 items in the DSI while the dependent variable is the level of depression. Multiple correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. Result showed that only 16% of the participants have no depression while the remaining 84% have depression ranging from mild to severe. “Empty life” stands paramount among all the predictors. Others in descending order are “feeling confused and having trouble thinking,” feeling worst” and “feeling slowed down.” The clinical implication of this finding is the need for urgent counselling centre with professional intervention in form psychotherapy and if need be drug therapy. The socioeconomic status of the students should be improved to ease their anxiety about having money and getting a job after graduation.

KEY WORDS: Epidemiological study, depression, students, tertiary institution.

Nigerian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences Vol.4(1) 2005: 82-87