Depressive symptoms associated with loneliness and physical activities among graduate university students in Bangladesh: findings from a cross-sectional pilot study

Abstract

In low-resource settings like Bangladesh, there is a dearth of research on the mental health of university students. This pilot study aimed to identify the prevalence of depressive symptoms, loneliness, and physical activities as well as the associated factors of depressive symptoms among graduate students in a public university of Bangladesh. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 323 graduate students between February 2019 and May 2019. By the convenience sampling technique, data were collected by a pretested, structured questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the validated Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) tool with a cut-off score of ≥10 vs. less; University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale was applied to assess loneliness, International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) scale was used to measure physical activity level. The overall prevalence of depressive symptoms was 52% and about 43% of participants felt most lonely. About 32.8% of students were involved in low physical activity. Being female, from lower income families, having poor academic performance, experiencing shorter sleep time, lower physical activity, and being lonely were potential risk factors for depressive symptoms among graduate university students. A positive correlation was found between loneliness and depressive symptoms of students (r = 0.367, p < 0.001). The higher prevalence of depressive symptoms among Bangladeshi graduate university students suggests the need for situation analysis, confirmatory clinical diagnosis, in-depth qualitative explorations, and large-scale surveys to explore the burden of such disorders and design appropriate low-intensity interventions like implementing student counselling service, offering mental assistance or other mental health support program in the country.

Does depressive and anxiety symptoms associate with the diet quality of university students? An exploratory study during the COVID-19 pandemic in India

“…After summarizing the total score obtained from the responses of the nine items, the summed score was categorized into two groups. Participants with a score of <10 were classified as having no depressive symptoms, and those who made a score of 10 were categorized as having depressive symptoms (Kundu et al, 2021;Manea et al, 2012). The reliability of the scale in the present study was high (Cronbach's α = 0.83).…”

“…Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a 9-item scale, was used to assess the level of depressive symptoms. To measure the depressive symptoms, the PHQ-9 is a validated tool (Kroenke et al, 2001), which was also used in several previous studies among university students (Islam et al, 2020;Kundu et al, 2021). The PHQ-9 scale is composed of 9 individual questions, where the response for each question was coded based on a four-point Likert scale ranging from "Not at all" (0) to "Nearly every day" (3).…”

“…Previous studies conducted among university students also used these categories to define sleep duration (Islam et al, 2020;Kundu et al, 2021;Sayeed et al, 2020). Changes in average sleep duration a day were assessed using a single fixed-choice question: 'During the COVID-19 lockdown, my average sleep duration a day was: (1) Decreased, (2) Not changed, (3) Increased'.…”

Loneliness and its correlates among Bangladeshi older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…However, an online self-reporting survey on the general Bangladeshi population (aged ≥ 15) found a higher prevalence of loneliness (71%) than the current study 40 . While, another study conducted among graduate students in Bangladesh reported a slightly lower prevalence of loneliness (43.3%) during the pandemic 41 . The plausible reasons for such a difference in loneliness prevalence include differences in study tools to measure loneliness, differences in the age range of participants, and online mode of survey administration.…”

Linking Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms with Diet Quality of University Students: A Cross-Sectional Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic in India

“…Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), a 9-item scale, was used to assess the level of depressive symptoms. The PHQ-9 is a validated tool for measuring depressive symptoms [ 31 ], and has also been used in several previous studies among university students [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. The PHQ-9 scale is composed of 9 individual questions, where the response for each question was coded based on a four-point Likert scale ranging from “Not at all” (0) to “Nearly every day” (3).…”