Determining the Level of Depression Stigma of University Students: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the level of depression stigmatization among university students. Method: This descriptive study was conducted with 929 university students. Descriptive Information Form and Depression Stigma Scale were used in the study. Mean and standard deviation were used for continuous variables; number and percentage were used for categorical data. The study data were evaluated with Independent t test for variables with two groups and One-Way ANOVA test for variables with more than two groups. Statistical evaluation of the data was performed using SPSS 25.0 Newyork package program. Results: It was determined that 42.2% of the university students who participated in the study were between 21-22 years of age, 56.6% were female, 21.9% had received psychiatric help at any time in their lives, 6.2% had a psychiatric illness, and 3.8% used a psychiatric drug. The mean total score of the depression stigmatization scale personal stigmatization sub-dimension was 14.52±7.08 and the mean total score of the perceived stigmatization sub-dimension was 20.76±8.88. It was found that female students had lower levels of personal stigmatization and higher levels of perceived stigmatization than male students (p