Mental Distress and its Associated Factors among Students of Mizan Aman Health Science College, Ethiopia

Background and Objective: Mental distress is a collection of mental problems that affect society as a whole and no one is immune against it.Students have a significantly high level of psychological distress which affects their ability to concentrate on academics.So the present study was aimed to assess the prevalence of mental distress and its associated factors among students of Mizan Aman Health Sciences College in South West Ethiopia.Materials and Methods: An institution based quantitative cross sectional study was conducted among 308 students from 1st June, 2016-30th June, 2016.Stratified random sampling followed by simple random sampling technique was used to select the study participants.Data were collected using pre-tested structured self-administered questionnaire.The collected data was entered into the computer using Epidemiological information software version 3.5.1 and analysis were done by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20:00.Finally, a multivariate logistic regression model was created to predict the mental distress among students.Results: Ninety seven percent of the study participants had written the questionnaires.The proportion of the students experiencing mental distress was found to be 29.2%.Being female [AOR 3.13, 95% CI = 1.5-6.49],having conflict with family [AOR 2.20, 95% CI = 1.24-3.90],having financial distress [AOR 1.99, 95% CI = 1.10-3.56]and ever use of khat [AOR 2.29, 95% CI = 1.04-5.04]were statistically significant predictors of mental distress.Conclusion: The prevalence of mental distress among the students was found to be relatively high.Being female sex, conflict with family, having financial distress and ever use of Khat were predictors of mental distress.Therefore, it is recommended that remedial action and due attention from policy makers, college officials, non-governmental organizations, parents, students and other concerned bodies should be needed to reduce the mental distress.