Knowledge, Attitude, and Health-Seeking Behavior towards Depression among Undergraduate Students of Lead City University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
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2022-12
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Lead City University
Abstract
Depression among University students is an emerging mental health condition with majority failing to seek professional help, this study therefore aimed to examine the knowledge, attitude, and health-seeking behavior, of Lead City University students towards depression. A cross sectional descriptive survey was used to enroll 320 undergraduate students through multistage sampling. The study population was Lead city university undergraduate students. Knowledge of depression was assessed using the depression literacy scale (maximum score = 22 points), attitude towards depression was assessed using the depression stigma scale consisting of nine questions (maximum score = 36 points), while respondents’ health seeking behavior was determined using “The attitude towards seeking professional psychological help scale” (maximum score = 10 points). The cut-off for each of the tools was set at 50%. To determine the factors associated with the knowledge, attitude and health-seeking behavior towards depression, Chi-square tests and binary logistic regression analyses were done. A p-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The mean age of the 320 Undergraduate students was 19.36 ± 2.90 years, 177 (55.3%) were females, 185 (57.8%) were aged 15-19 years, and 163 (50.9%) belonged to the upper academic level (300-400 level). Overall, 175 (54.7%) had good knowledge of depression, 161 (50.3%) had good health seeking behavior towards depression and 74 (23.1%) had positive attitude towards depression. More than one-half of the proportion of respondents demonstrated good knowledge and good health-seeking behavior towards depression, while less than one-third depicted positive attitude towards depression. Negative attitudes towards depression may be associated with stigmatization of depressed persons and depression may therefore continue to plague the mental health of Undergraduate students at LCU. The management of LCU could improve depression-focused care by identifying students with counseling needs and referring them to professional counselors and psychologists in the university.
Key Words: Attitude, Health Behavior, Depression, Knowledge, Mental Health, Undergraduates.
Word Count: 294
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Kate Turabian