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Australian Student Depression Attitudes Study

Summary of Results

The Australian Student Depression Attitudes Study (ASDAS) was a study conducted via this website exploring Australian university students’ attitudes towards depression and its treatment. Data for the study were collected between September 2009 and April 2010. Below is a nontechnical summary of the aims and main results of the ASDAS.

Purpose of the Study

Depression is one of the most common mental health problems experienced by university students. Suffering from depression can have a negative impact on students’ academic performance and many other areas of their lives. The broad purpose of the ASDAS was to explore students' attitudes towards depression and its treatment. The ultimate goal of this and other studies conducted via the depression.net website is to learn how to better assist those students who experience depression.

To limit the burden on students who participated in the ASDAS, the questions in the study focused specifically on exploring students’ beliefs about the causes of depression, their willingness to seek help for depression from different sources, and their attitudes towards certain types of treatment.

Who Participated in the Study?

A demographically diverse sample of over 8000 Australian university students took part in the ASDAS. Recruiting a large sample was important so that the researchers could accurately perform certain statistical analyses. Students from every state and territory in the country participated. Participants were enrolled in a wide range of courses (e.g., Business, Health, Physical and Natural Sciences, Education, Social & Behavioural Sciences, Arts).

About half the students who participated in the study reported experiencing depression at some point in their lives. This does not necessarily mean that 50% of all university students have experienced depression. Rather, students who have suffered from depression may have chosen to participate in the study at a greater rate than students who have not personally experienced depression. Around 38% of the sample reported having sought professional treatment for depression at some point in the lives.

What participation involved

The exact nature of the questions participants answered varied randomly from person to person, as the questions were drawn from a bank of items. Some questions were answered using rating scales, where as others involved leaving written responses.

Participants could be asked questions about:

• Whether they were experiencing common symptoms of depression around the time they participated in the study
• Their beliefs about the causes of depression
• Opinions about treatments for depression
• Opinions about different types of health professionals who offer treatments for depression
• Opinions about some advertisements for antidepressant medications

Most students took between 5 and 20 minutes to complete the study.

Participants were invited to take part in a follow up study 3 months later, assessing the use of strategies to overcome depression by students who had felt depressed during the period between the initial phase of the study and the 3 month follow up.

Results

Beliefs about Causes of Depression

Participants believed that many different factors could contribute to someone becoming depressed. Some of the factors that students identified as putting themselves and their colleagues most at risk of getting depressed were:

• Life stressors, such as work and university pressures, unemployment, the death of a loved one and other traumas
• Social isolation
• Unhealthy and dysfunctional relationships
• Difficult childhood experiences, such as being bullied or abused as a child
• Thinking in unhelpful ways, such as thinking very negatively about yourself and the future
• Physical health problems
• Excessive alcohol and Illicit drug use

Overcoming Depression

Students were asked what they would do if they were depressed and struggling to cope. Students suggested many different strategies to overcome depression. Some of the most common were:

• Talk to trusted friends and family members about being depressed
• Spend more time with friends and loved ones
• Reengage in activities you normally find enjoyable, but haven’t been doing since becoming depressed
• Exercise more
• Attempt to reduce stressors (e.g., reorganise university schedule to reduce stress)
• Try to think more helpfully about yourself and the future
• Seek professional help, for example from a GP or Psychologist

While most students reported that they would be willing to seek help from trusted friends or family, some students said that they would be unwilling to do this.

In terms of consulting health professionals, participants reported that they would be most comfortable seeking help for depression from a GP or Psychologist. Most students said they were unlikely to seek help from practitioners of “alternative” therapies, such as Naturopaths.

Antidepressant Medication and Counselling

Two common professional treatments for depression are antidepressant medication, and specialised forms of counselling (sometimes called psychotherapy). Students were asked about how willing they would be to use these treatments if they were depressed and struggling to cope. Most students had a positive attitude towards counselling. 88% of students reported that they would be willing to try counselling if they were depressed. 45% of participants reported being willing to try antidepressant medication, but most of these students said they would only be willing to use medication if they also received counselling.

Treatment Use

The researchers examined whether students who were depressed when they first participated in the study used particular strategies to try and overcome depression in the next three months. The most popular strategies used were talking to friends and family, and exercise. About two-thirds of students used those strategies. About one-third of students consulted their GP and/or a Counsellor, read self help books, prayed, or used natural remedies such as St John’s Wort or vitamins.

Advertisements

Antidepressant medications are widely advertised on TV and in magazines in America, but it is currently illegal to advertise them in Australia. Some researchers have suggested that if people see ads for medications, they may be more likely to seek help from a professional such as a GP when they feel depressed. Some students in the ASDAS looked at advertisements for antidepressants and gave their opinions about them. Students’ reactions to the ads were mixed. About half of the students who looked at the ads thought they were educational and would make them more likely to seek treatment if they were depressed, but other students thought the ads were misleading and would not make them more likely to seek help.

Conclusions

Students’ beliefs about the causes and treatment of depression are very diverse. Despite the diversity of opinions, the following general themes emerged:

• Students tend to view depression as being triggered by “psychosocial factors” such as stress, unhealthy relationships and negative thinking
• Students suffering from depression tend to be more willing to seek help from trusted friends than from health professionals
• In terms of treatments offered by health professionals, participants in the ASDAS expressed a strong preference for using psychosocial interventions such as counselling rather than antidepressant medication
• Few students expressed a willingness to use antidepressant medication unless it is accompanied by additional treatments, such as counselling
• Despite holding positive attitudes towards counselling, only a relatively small percentage of students who are depressed actually access counselling services
• Students are most likely to utilise more easily accessible treatments (e.g., exercise, over the counter medications, self help books) than seek help from professionals who are trained to treat depression

These findings are consistent with research involving non-student populations that has found that people suffering from mental health problems often delay seeking professional help for many years, even though there are many studies showing that certain forms of counselling and certain types of medication can be effective in treating depression. Future research should explore factors that lead to the underuse of effective professional treatments for depression amongst students (e.g., stigma, cost, limited availability of counselling services, medication side-effects) and how to overcome such barriers. Educating the general public about how to assist people suffering from depression appears to be very important, given that people experiencing depression often turn to friends and family rather than health professionals for help.

The researchers thank all of the students who participated in the ASDAS, and to the staff who circulated invitations to participate in the study.

Questions or comments about this site?  Contact the researchers.