Frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of the present study was to explore the frequency of Depression, anxiety and stress among university students in Sialkot, Pakistan. METHOD: Survey research method was used to collect data from three universities of Sialkot by using simple random sampling technique from 500 university students. The study was conducted at GC Women University, Sialkot in total duration of five months from February 2019 to June 2019. A demographic sheet and DASS-21 (Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale) were used to measure the level of depression, anxiety and stress. Data was scored according to the standard scoring procedure for each subscale and for further analysis frequency distribution method was applied through statistical package for social sciences (SPSS. 21). RESULTS: The means of Depression, Anxiety and stress are M=15.08, M=18.24 and M=19.02 respectively. The frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students was found 75%, 88.4% and 84.4% respectively. The findings of the study showed the prevalence of Depression within the range of normal (25%), mild (16%), moderate (35.8%), severe (14.6%) and extremely severe (8.6%). The prevalence of anxiety was found to be in the range of normal (11.6%), mild (4.4%), moderate (19.4%), severe (17.8%) and extremely severe (46.8%). Stress was normal (15.6%), mild (33.8%), moderate (35.4%), severe (13.2%) and extremely severe (2.8%). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that symptoms of anxiety and stress are more prevalent with moderate to extremely severe range than depression in the current sample. These findings suggest urgent need of some preventive measures and interventions to improve the mental health of students.