. Nijampatnam P. M. Pavani; . G. Anirudh; . Nandita Rani Kothia; . Parveen Sultana Shaik; . K. Krishna Priya; . Suresh Chand Yaddanapalli
Volume 11, Issue 10 , November 2021, , Pages 1-7
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The challenges of dental education place students at high risk of stress. Becausedental education is a highly demanding and challenging course, placing heavy demands on ...
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BACKGROUND: The challenges of dental education place students at high risk of stress. Becausedental education is a highly demanding and challenging course, placing heavy demands on themental resources of the students, making them vulnerable to high levels of stress, this study aimed todetermine the prevalence of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behaviors in dental students.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A descriptive cross‑sectional study was done on a conveniencesample of 388 dental students in a teaching dental institution. Data were collected using standard,prevalidated, self‑administered questionnaires (Patient Health Questionnaire‑9 and SuicidalBehaviours Questionnaire‑Revised [SBQ‑R]). Analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Descriptivestatistics, Chi‑square test, and logistic regression were performed.RESULTS: At least half of the students were in major depression with different levels of severity.When students from different years were analyzed, majority from each year fell under II and IIIcategories (P < 0.001). Most of the students reported that they do not have any suicidal ideationor behavior (SBQ‑R). Nearly 16% of the students either presented the threat of suicidal attemptor likelihood of suicidal behavior in future. Almost 13% of the dental students thought of killingthemselves in the past year for at least two times. Around 16% of them expressed to someone abouttheir thought of committing suicide.CONCLUSION: Even though depression and suicidal tendencies were not prominent in dentalstudents, there is a need to shed light on those who responded positively and take necessary reformsto relieve academic stress.