Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27769235›Full record

ArticleBMC medical education2016

Health professions' students have an alarming prevalence of depressive symptoms: exploration of the associated factors.

Eiad AlFaris, Farhana Irfan, Riaz Qureshi, Naghma Naeem, Abdulaziz Alshomrani, Gominda Ponnamperuma, Nada Al Yousufi, Nasr Al Maflehi, Mohammad Al Naami, Amr Jamal and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in BMC medical education, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
34citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
10.9field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

34 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 103 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.

Eiad AlFarisDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Farhana IrfanDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. masoodfarhana1969@gmail.com.
Riaz QureshiDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Naghma NaeemMedical Education Department, Batterjee Medical College, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Abdulaziz AlshomraniDepartment of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, PO Box 7544, Riyadh, 13317-4233, Saudi Arabia.
Gominda PonnamperumaMedical Education, Medical Education Development and Research Centre, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Nada Al YousufiDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Nasr Al MaflehiBiostatistical Consultant CDRC, College of Dentistry, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Mohammad Al NaamiGeneral Surgery Division, KKUH, KSU, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Amr JamalCollege of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Cees van der VleutenDepartment of Educational Development and Research, School of Health Professions Education, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
King Saud University · SABatterjee Medical CollegeImam Mohammad ibn Saud Islamic University · SAMaastricht University · NLUniversity of Colombo · LK

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThere is a need to better understand the depression phenomenon and to clarify why some students become depressed and others don't. The purpose of this study was to compare the prevalence of depressive symptoms among health professions' (HP) students, and to explore the association between socio-demographic factors (e.g. year of study, discipline, gender) and depressive symptoms.

methodsIn this descriptive-analytic, cross-sectional study, stratified proportionate sampling strategy was used to select the study sample during the academic year 2012-2013. The students from four health professions' schools situated within a large, public university located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia were screened for depressive symptoms using the 21-item Beck Depression Inventory (BDI II). Chi-square test, student t-test and ANOVA were used to compare different categorical variables.

resultsThe overall response rate was 79.0 %, the highest among dental students 86.1 %, and lowest among nursing (49.7 %). The overall prevalence rate of depressive symptoms was 47.0 %; it was highest among dentistry students (51.6 %), followed by medicine (46.2 %), applied medical sciences (AMS) (45.7 %) and lowest among nursing students (44.2 %). A statistically significant association was found between the presence and severity of depressive symptoms on one hand and the female gender (p = 0.000) and year of study on the other hand.

conclusionThis study seems to indicate an alarming rate of depressive symptoms. Female gender, dentistry, the third year for all schools and fifth year for medicine and dentistry have the highest association with depressive symptoms. Future studies may be needed to explore further the reasons and explanations for the variation in the prevalence of depressive symptoms among these groups. The factors that deserve exploration include curricular variables and personal factors such as the students' study skills.

Indexed as

Cross-Sectional StudiesDepressionFemaleHumansMalePrevalenceSaudi ArabiaSex FactorsStudents, Health OccupationsYoung AdultDepressionHealth science studentsMental healthPrevalenceWellness

Identifiers

PMID27769235
PMCPMC5073730
OpenAlexW2535257035

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.