Abstract:
Abstract
Background: Common mental disorders are Anxiety, Depression, Somatic symptoms and
related disorders. They pose significant public health problem because of their serious effects on
personal wellbeing, social and occupational functions. They also can affect health and quality of
life of people at early age as adolescence has been a time of vulnerability and the point at which
many of the disease burdens from mental disorders emerges. More than 60% of adolescents
fulfill criteria for at least one common mental disorder by the American psychiatry association.
Objective: To assess prevalence of common mental disorders and associated factors among high
school students at Debre Markos town, Northwest Ethiopia, 2021.
Methods: Institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted from May 5 to 30 of 2021.
Study subjects were taken from each class level by simple random sampling from all high
schools. Self-administered questionnaire was used that included self reported questioner 20,
oslo-3 social support and other instruments. Data was checked, coded and entered to Epi-Data
version 4.6.0 then exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20 for analysis. Bivariable and Multi-variable logistic regression analyses were done to identify important factors
associated with common mental disorders. Adjusted Odds Ratios with 95% confidence intervals
were calculated and variables with P value of <0.05 were considered as significantly associated.
Results: A total of 600 high school students were recruited with a response rate of 93.2%. The
overall prevalence of common mental disorders among the respondents was 181(32.4%). Being
female [AOR=[AOR=1.93; 95% CI: (1.27-2.99)] lifetime use of alcohol [AOR=1.68; 95% CI:
(1.06-2.64)], family history of mental illness [AOR= 2.23; 95%CI: (1.15-4.35)], poor social
support [AOR =3.14; 95% CI: (1.51-6.54)], a history of non physical sexual abuse [AOR =2.09;
95%CI: (1.21-3.62)] and a history of physical sexual abuse [AOR= 2.43; 95% CI: (1.29-4.59)]
were significantly associated with common mental disorders.
Conclusion and recommendation: The prevalence of common mental disorders was high
among study participant therefore, it is recommended to facilitate institutional based intervention
services in the school and decrease the contributing factors for the problem
