Depression literacy and awareness programs among Bangladeshi students: An online survey

Abstract

Background: Preventing depression and helping individuals to become more resilient to depression, awarenessrelated 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. Methods: An online-based cross-sectional survey was carried out among 404 university students (62.6% male; 69.3% undergraduates, mean age ¼ 22.35 AE 2.69 years). The survey included questions asking about sociodemographics, personal and family depression history, its' stigma and related programs, and the 20-item Bangla Depression Literacy questionnaire. Results: The results showed a mean score of 9.30 (SD ¼ 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. Limitations: 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. Conclusions: 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.

Impact of the HOPE Intervention on Mental Health Literacy, Psychological Well-Being and Stress Levels amongst University Undergraduates: A Randomised Controlled Trial

“…Conversely, students from non-healthcare undergraduate fields (such as business and engineering) had lower depression and anxiety literacy scores. Our findings were comparable with the observations of earlier studies [ 34 , 35 , 38 ]. Similarly, undergraduates [ 34 ] and postgraduate students [ 45 ] reported higher depression literacy scores, suggesting that exposure and familiarity with a curriculum covering healthcare-related topics might help raise literacy about mental disorders.…”

“…Females did not differ in depression literacy scores compared with males. This was consistent with one study [ 34 ]; nevertheless other studies found that females reported higher depression literacy scores than males [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 ]. A possible explanation could be that females tend to possess greater insight on their health and have more concern with their emotional well-being.…”

Exploring the association between mental health and subjective sleep quality during the COVID-19 pandemic among Bangladeshi university students

“…Like many lower middle-income countries, the allocation of resources on mental health services in the universities of Bangladesh is nominal; therefore, students with mental health problems remain unattended. Moreover, students are unaware about mental disorders and sometimes, they are reluctant to visit healthcare center, largely due to the fear of social stigma and social exclusion (Mamun et al, 2020b). We, therefore, strongly advocate to plan and implement programs aimed at strengthening the state of mental health for university students during the pandemic.…”

Mental Healthy Literacy of Teachers: a Systematic Literature Review

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