Prevalence of Mental Health Disorder and Substance Use among Jigjiga University Undergraduate Students

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to examine the prevalence of mental health disorder and substance use among Jigjiga University undergraduate students. Survey research design was conducted on 406 students. The survey constitutes self-administered questionnaire (i.e., Alcohol, Smoking, and Substance Involvement Screening Test, ASSIST for substance use; and Self Reporting Questionnaire, SRQ-20 for mental health) were adapted and used. Respondents were selected using Simple random sampling technique. Data were collected, cleaned, entered and analysed by using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, standard deviation (SD), and mean; and Inferential statistics (independent sample t-test, one way ANOVA, and Pearson) were applied and a p value of < 0.05 was considered to determine the significance level of the variables. The prevalence of mental health disorder among undergraduate students were found to be 48.3%. Besides, the study also revealed that the prevalence of alcoholism, chat chewing and using tobacco products were 28.6%, 22.5% and 10.8% respectively. However, the correlation between substance abuse and mental health showed that mental health was not significantly correlated with tobacco, alcohol and chat chewing. Generally, the study found that the prevalence of mental health illness and substance use (i.e, alcoholism, chat chewing and cigarette smoking among the students was relatively high. Hence, the university should establish a well-structured guidance and counselling centre and services to support students with mental health problems and substance use.