Depression Literacy Status in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Observation

Arafat, S. M. Yasir; Ahmed, Shahoriar; Uddin, Md. Saleh

doi:10.5455/jbh.20171004090621

Cited by 8 publications

(15 citation statements)

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“…Consequently, MHL has been studied globally as a prerequisite to the implementation of mental health awareness programs and is reported to have had positive influences on minimizing such suffering (Gabriel and Violato, 2010). In Bangladesh (where the present study was carried out), there has been a gradual improvement in health and education, but in the case of health literacy, it has been disappointing (Arafat et al, 2018a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

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

Mamun

Naher

Moonajilin

et al. 2020

Heliyon

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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.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

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

Mamun

Naher

Moonajilin

et al. 2020

Heliyon

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“…Another study of British sample also revealed gender differences in health literacy status (Swami 2012). Previous comparative study in Bangladesh didn't address the gender issue (Arafat et al 2018b).…”

Section: Gender Difference Of Depression Literacymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…One previous comparative study reported that D-Lit was the highest among the medical graduates (D-Lit mean:11.19), followed by chronically ill patients (D-Lit mean = 9.59), private university graduates (D-Lit mean = 8.34) and depressed patients (D-Lit mean = 7.55) (Arafat et al 2018b). The mean score of those 608 respondents was 9.19 measured by the same instrument, that is, D-Lit Bangla, with the same range, that is 0-20 (Arafat et al 2018b). Medical graduates revealed to have the highest literacy status among the four groups.…”

Section: Comparison Of the Knowledge About Depression With Other Groupsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Bangladesh is a thickly populated developing country in southeast Asia with recent significant enhancements in the health and literacy sectors. Nonetheless, HL has remained under addressed in the country (Arafat et al 2018b). HL, mental health literacy, depression literacy are newer concepts in Bangladesh.…”

Section: Depression Literacy In Bangladeshmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…HL, mental health literacy, depression literacy are newer concepts in Bangladesh. Newer researches are gradually coming out to deal with the literacy issues among the general people, where the population have lower HL and frequent abnormal health perceptions (Arafat et al 2017;Arafat & Ahmed 2017;Arafat et al 2018b). One previous comparative study reported that D-Lit was the highest among the medical graduates, followed by chronically ill patients, university graduates and depressed patients (Arafat et al 2018b).…”

Section: Depression Literacy In Bangladeshmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Depression Literacy among First-Year University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bangladesh

2019

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ObjectivesEarly detection of depression has been assumed to lead to its earlier and better care. Increased depression literacy among the general population might play a vital role in the early and successful detection and treatment. We aimed to investigate depression literacy among the first year university students, to be able to compare their depression literacy with those of other previously investigated groups, we hypothesized that depression literacy might be different from other groups such as patients and other subjects from the general population. Knowledge about depression might also be different in female and male students.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted among the first-year students of Jahangirnagar University, Bangladesh between January and May 2018. A convenience sample of 306 students was randomly identified from a list of students obtained from the authority. Relevant sociodemographic variables were collected. Students were interviewed using the Bangla Depression Literacy scale (D-Lit Bangla). This was a semi structured interview asking for the knowledge on 20 different characteristics of depression. Collected data were analysed to estimate the mean score and 95% confidence intervals of D-Lit Bangla scores.ResultsThe mean score of the correctly identified characteristics of depression was 6.55 (95% CI = 6.31 to 6.89). Only five characteristics of depression were correctly identified by more than 50% participants, that is, sleep change (76.7%), feeling of guilt (75.2%), low self-esteem (81.8%), psychomotor changes (64.6%) and identification of famous people suffering from depression (66.7%). Only a very small portion of the participants correctly knew about psychotic symptoms and different options for the treatment of depression. There were no significant differences between male and female students in the amount and pattern of knowledge of depression.ConclusionsThe study revealed poor literacy status among the first-year university students of Bangladesh. Both male and female gender have similar amount of depression literacy.

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Biological Management of Psychiatric Disorders in Bangladesh

Arafat,

Giasuddin

2024

Mental Health in Bangladesh

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Depression Literacy Status in Bangladesh: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Observation

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

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

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

Depression Literacy among First-Year University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study in Bangladesh

Biological Management of Psychiatric Disorders in Bangladesh

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