@article{ref1,
title="Assessing trends in physician assistant student depression risk, suicidal ideation, and mental health help-seeking behavior",
journal="Journal of physician assistant education",
year="2021",
author="Neary, Stephanie and Ruggeri, Mary and Roman, Christopher",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess how physician assistant (PA) student depression risk, suicidal ideation, and mental health help-seeking behaviors change during didactic training and the relationship between depression risk and demographic factors. <br><br>METHODS: Data were obtained through an anonymous online survey sent to didactic students in 7 PA programs during orientation and again at midpoint of the didactic year. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-testing, and one-way ANOVA analyses were used to assess trends in patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) scores over the 6-month time period. The PHQ-9 is the module of the PHQ that measures severity of depression risk. <br><br>RESULTS: The orientation survey response rate was 82.7% (287/347) and the midpoint survey response rate was 62% (217/350). Analysis revealed that mean PHQ-9 scores increased significantly from 2.49 to 6.42 (p < 0.001) from orientation to midpoint of the didactic year, with 18.9% of students having scores of 10 or greater at midpoint compared to 4.5% at orientation. Thoughts of self-harm and/or suicidal ideation in the past 2 weeks also increased from 3.5% to 7.4% during the same time frame. Additionally, students' likelihood of seeking mental health help decreased between orientation and midpoint despite the concurrent increases in depression risk and suicidal ideation. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Rising PHQ-9 scores indicated an increased risk of major depression among didactic-year PA students. Further research on early screening methods and factors that encourage help-seeking behaviors may serve to inform programs about how to create learning environments that mitigate depression risk and promote wellbeing during professional training.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1941-9430",
doi="10.1097/JPA.0000000000000369",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/JPA.0000000000000369"
}