Abstract

Dr. Humaira Siddique*, Dr. Uzma Aziz and Dr. Sulma Bibi

ABSTRACT

Background: Depression is psychological disorder that affects the person's mood, physical functions and social interactions. Medical students remain under stress that often exerts a negative effect on the academic performances, physical health and psychological well-being of students. Objective: To assess the exposure to different stressors and the prevalence of depression among medical students at different levels of education, taking gender differences into account. Methodology: Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Nishtar Medical College Multan, Duration: April 2017 to June 2017. 100 students of either sex of Nishtar Medical College were included in the study. A predesigned, pretested questionnaire and counting sampling technique was used to collect the data. Hamilton depression scale was used assess depression. The data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 16. Results: This study included 200 undergraduate medical students to assess prevalence of depression. Mean age was 20±2 years with age range of 17-26 years. 45 students were mildly depressed, 26 moderately and 30 were severely depressed, whereas, 99 students were normal. Conclusion: High prevalence of depression was found in medical in undergraduate level. Students it poses additional challenges for student's support service delivery.