STUDY OF DEPRESSION AMONG MEDICAL STUDENTS OF DIFFERENT PATHIES IN NANDED CITY, MAHARASHTRA

BACKGROUND: The goal of medical education is to train knowledgeable, competent and professional physicians to care for the nation's sick, advance the science of medicine and promote public health. It imposes significant psychological stress on medical students, mainly through time pressure, large amount of new information, excessive working hours and the knowledge that at the end of their training they will be directly responsible for the health and welfare of others. In this respect, attention has been paid to stress, health concerns and emotional problems among medical students. AIM AND OBJECTIVES: 1) To determine prevalence of depression among medical students. 2) To study contributing risk factors for development of depression. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A Cross sectional study was conducted from June 2012 to Nov 2012 at Dr. Shankarrao Chavan Govt. Medical College, Nanded and Government Ayurvedic College, Nanded. All the 450 medical students of both government medical colleges were included in study. Data was collected using pretested semi structured questionnaire including Becks depression inventory scale. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Data analysed using SPSS version 16. Proportion and Chi square test were used. RESULTS: A total of 421 students participated with response rate of (93.56%). The prevalence of depression according to Becks Depression Inventory Scale among medical students was (27.08%). Majority (16.63%) had mild depression followed by (8.08%) with moderate depression, (1.43%) with severe depression and (0.95%) with very severe depression. There were statistically significant association between type of depression and faculty of medical science of study subjects (p < 0.05). Year of under-graduation, religion, parental loss, family h/o chronic illness and h/o unsuccessful love affairs were the factors significantly associated with depression. (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: About one fourth of medical students were suffering from mild depression. Along with academic factors certain socio - demographic and family related factors were significantly associated with depression among study subjects.