The Prevalence of Depression among the Students of Ardabil University of Medical Sciences, 2003

Depression is one of the most common disorders which can affect every individual. However some individuals (including the students of medical sciences) who are involved in health issues are more vulnerable in this regard. The early diagnosis of this disorder among the students can lead to primary prevention and avoid any further progression and deteriration. This in turn can result in mental health among these students as well as the society. The present study set out to investigate the rate of depression among the students of Ardabil university of medical sciences. This research is an analytic-descriptive study conducted on 324 students from Ardabil University of Medical Scinces. A questionnaire including two sections was used to collect the data. The first section was about the demographic information and the second section included questions about depression based on Beck depression test. The data were analyzed by SPSS soft waire using descriptive and analytical statistics. The results showed that 57.4% of total subjects (186 students) suffered from various degrees of depression. 128 of these students were suffering from clinical depression. The prevalence of depression among midwifery students was 21.4 %. Chi- square test showed a significant relationship among prevalence of depression in these students with their educational semester, the number of their siblings, any kind of major physical disorder in the subject or, a serious psychological problem among their family members, as well as any significant event during the previous year. According to obtained results there was a high degree of depression among medical university students and serious measures should be taken in the future in order to prevent this social concern.