Original Article PREVALENCE AND EXTENT OF AWARENESS OF DEPRESSION IN YOUTH VISHALKALYANI A. 1* , SUMAN S. RAO 1 , BARDIA REZAINOEI 1 , R. SRINIVASAN 1 , VINEELA NEKKANTI 1 1 Department of Pharmacy Practice, PES College of Pharmacy, Bengaluru, 560050, Karnataka, India * Email: vishalkalyani@gmail.com Received: 11 Mar 2021, Revised and Accepted: 20 Apr 2021 ABSTRACT Objective: Depression is a common mental disorder that affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Increasing awareness about depression in youth can help in addressing the consequences of the disorder that may extend to adulthood. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated socio- demographic factors of depression among youth and to determine the efficacy of an educational intervention in increasing awareness about depression. Methods: Pre-university and graduate students between 15 to 24 y of age were included in the study. Data was collected using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, the Adolescent Depression Knowledge Questionnaire, and a self-designed proforma of socio-demographic factors. An educational intervention, in the form of a video, was provided to the subjects. A post-intervention questionnaire was administered after a period of 4-6 w. Analysis and interpretation of data were completed using the Chi-square test and SPSS v22 software. Results: The prevalence of depression in youth was found to be 29.6% using a PHQ-9 cut-off score of 10. Annual household income was found to have a statistically significant association with the prevalence of depression (*P-value: 0.036). The students’ knowledge about depression was notably improved, as observed from answers of the ADKQ, before and after the educational intervention. Conclusion: Depression is prevalent among Indian students, and this highlights the need for screening of students and educational interventions. Providing educational interventions to students can increase their awareness and knowledge about depression. Keywords: Depression, Mental health, Prevalence, Awareness © 2021 The Authors. Published by Innovare Academic Sciences Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22159/ijpps.2021v13i6.41394. Journal homepage: https://innovareacademics.in/journals/index.php/ijpps. INTRODUCTION Depression is a common mental disorder affecting more than 264 million people worldwide. It may be characterized by persistent sadness, a lack of interest or pleasure in previously rewarding or enjoyable activities, disturbances in sleep and appetite, tiredness, and poor concentration [1]. The estimated prevalence of depression in youth ranges from 3.1%-68% [2]. Today’s youth are in a challenging developmental phase with many physical, psychological, cognitive, and social changes. Life events that are likely to affect the appearance of depressive symptoms in youth include failure in examination, serious illness, death of a family member, change in residence, and end of a relationship [3]. Other risk factors include academic stress, having a working mother, familial discord, and economic burden [2, 4]. It is known that the trajectories of mental disorders can be modified through their early recognition and intervention [5]. Mental health literacy is defined as knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders that assist in their recognition, management, or prevention. It comprises of components like identification of mental health disorders and knowledge of risk factors, causes, self-treatments, and professional help available. Currently, there is a widespread stigma about mental disorders, and they are sometimes believed to be untreatable, which causes delay or prevention from seeking help [6, 7]. Mental health literacy is vital in adolescents, as about half of those who develop mental disorders as adults have their first episodes before the age of 18 y. Knowledge and awareness about depression play a key role in ensuring timely support and treatment of youth with depressive symptoms, thus aiding in the attainment of better outcomes in the future [8, 9]. Hence, our study was aimed at determining the impact of mental health education in improving mental health literacy in youth. MATERIALS AND METHODS Design and setting A prospective observational study was carried out for six months between October 2019 and March 2020. Before the initiation of the study, ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethical Committee (IEC approval number: PESCP/2019-20/PharmD/04). In addition, permission to use the Adolescent Depression Knowledge Questionnaire (ADKQ) was obtained from Dr Karen Swartz via e-mail. For subjects to be included in the study, they had to meet the inclusion criteria of being within 15-24 y of age and attending either pre- university or a degree college. Exclusion criteria were subjects below 15 y of age, subjects above 24 y of age, and subjects not attending pre- university or Degree College. Data collection was performed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the ADKQ, and a self-made proforma of socio-demographic factors. The forms were circulated among the graduate students using a Google Forms link, while the pre- university students received paper versions of the forms. The procedure for the collection of data was explained to the subjects, and they were ensured of anonymity and confidentiality. Informed consent was obtained from the participants orally. The students entered their student ID numbers. After answering the questions, the participants were shown an informational video that served as the educational intervention. After four to six weeks, the participants answered the ADKQ. 321 students participated in the post-intervention test as opposed to 467 students before the intervention, and thus the former 321 participants’ answers before and after the intervention were considered for analysis. The answers of the students before and after receiving the educational intervention were clubbed according to their student ID number, after which a unique ID number was assigned to maintain anonymity. Measures Patient Health Questionnaire-9: The PHQ-9 is a nine-item, self- report tool that contains DSM-IV criteria along with other major depressive symptoms designed to screen for depression. A score of 0-4 indicates minimal depression, 5-9 indicates mild depression, 10- 14 indicates moderate depression, 15-19 indicates moderately severe depression, and a score between 20-27 indicates severe depression [10]. For this study, scores greater than or equal to 10 were considered to have high specificity and sensitivity for major depressive disorder. International Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Print ISSN: 2656-0097 | Online ISSN: 0975-1491 Vol 13, Issue 6, 2021