Publications

Out of the 300 million people suffering from depression globally, 85% live in low- and middle-income countries andUganda is ranked among top six countries in Africa with the highest cases of mental disorders. According to thelatest WHO report, 4.6% Ugandans suffer from depressive disorders. There was scarcity of data in Uganda andworse still in Kampala International University Western Campus (KIU-WC) on depression and its associated factorsamong clinical medicine students. Thus, this study sought to find out the local burden of depression and its riskfactors among clinical medicine students at KIU-WC. A descriptive cross-sectional study design among 209 BMSstudents in KIU-WC was carried out between the months of NOV to April 2022. A pretested questionnaire wasused to collect background data while Beck's Depression Inventory was used to assess for the levels of depressionamong 209 BMS students in KIU-WC. Data was entered and analyzed using SPSS version 25. The participants’ages ranged from 19 to 28 years with a mean of 21.8 ± 2.2 years and majority (60.3%) were males. The overallprevalence of depression was 39.7% (moderate depression 34.4%, severe depression 5.3%). Factors associated withdepression were; female sex (X2=133.81; p<0.001), age more than 26 years (X2=60.72; p<0.001), final year of study(X2=94.66; p<0.001), more than 100,00/= monthly upkeep (X2=103.07; p<0.001), retakes (X2=116.93p<0.001),relationship (X2=68.87; p<0.001) and alcohol consumption (X2=28.31; p<0.001).Depression among BMS students in KIU western campus is high and is associated with female sex, old age, advancedyear of study, monthly upkeep, retakes, relationships and alcohol consumption. The study recommends the creationof support groups with counseling facilities within KIU and all medical schools in Uganda.