@article{ref1,
title="Psychological distress among first-year health science students in Taiwan",
journal="Heliyon",
year="2022",
author="Chen, Nai-Hung and Liu, Li-Mei and Liu, Hsing-Yuan and Hsieh, I-Chang and Tsai, Ching-Ching",
volume="8",
number="8",
pages="e10121-e10121",
abstract="Background Most first-year college/university students are adolescents or young adults and therefore are at high risk of developing psychological distress symptoms. Little is known about psychological distress among first-year university students in Taiwan, especially those studying health science-related fields.  Objective To understand the prevalence of psychological distress and its five dimensions (depression and anxiety, self-harm, impulsivity, and psychiatric disturbance) and explore the relationship between student-specific variables (enrollment year, age, sex, program duration, and college) and psychological distress.  Methods A secondary analysis design was adopted. We enrolled 4,212 first-year university students throughout 2016, 2017, and 2018. Health screening data were obtained using the Mental Health Scale for Undergraduate-Screening Assessment (MHSU-SA) for first-year health science students at a private technical-vocational university in northern Taiwan.  Results Many first-year university students were at-risk for depression (4.2%), anxiety (8.2%), self-harm (5.2%), impulsivity (2.6%), psychiatric disturbance (4.4%), and overall psychological distress (4.2%). Students in a four-year program were more than twice as likely to demonstrate psychological distress symptoms compared to their two-year (night) program counterparts (odds ratio = 2.05, 95% confidence interval = 1.20-3.49, p < 0.01).  Conclusion Some first-year health science university students showed psychological distress, including anxiety, self-harm, psychiatric disturbance, depression, and impulsivity. Students in four-year programs were twice as likely to show symptoms of psychological distress than those in two-year (night) programs. Therefore, mental health screenings are recommended to facilitate early detection and timely intervention for at-risk students.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2405-8440",
doi="10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10121",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e10121"
}