Examining the factors influencing the mental health of students in Makerere University: case Study of Makerere University Colleges

Abstract

Mental health is a condition of wellbeing in which each person fulfills their potential, is able to deal with everyday pressures, can work creatively and fruitfully, and can contribute to their community. Studies from different countries conducted with different methodologies have suggested a lack of knowledge at both public and specific age-group levels about how to prevent and recognize mental health problems and mental disorders, how to provide first line support to people manifesting mental health problems, and about the available and useful forms of help. This situation is alarming and requires immediate action. This research therefore aimed at examining the underlying factors influencing the mental health of students in Makerere university. This research design that was used by the study was a descriptive cross-sectional study using a quantitative approach. The researcher as well used sample size of approximately 100 respondents determined using Cochrane formulae. Descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and percentages were computed for different variables and tabulated at univariate level. Association between the independent and dependent variable were carried out using the chi-square test to measure the association between those two variables. At Multivariate level, Multinomial logistic regression was used to analyze the factors associated with mental health amongst students at Makerere University. The results from the study indicated that findings at bivariate level indicated that engagement in disruptive behavior, parents’ ability to manage university expenses for their students at campus, pressure from parents regarding their academic performance and age of the respondent were statistically significant with the dependent variable (Mental health) since their P-Values were less than 5%.At multivariate level, the model shows that a student who have ever been engaged in any disruptive behavior is 2.074 times most likely to get affected mentally compared to one who is not sure of whether he has been involved in an any disruptive behavior. Students whose parents were moderately able to manage their university expenses were 1.465 times most likely to have a poor mental health compared to those whose parents easily managed their expenses. Students whose parents put them on high pressure, low pressure and moderate pressure were most likely to have poor mental health compared to those who had extremely high pressure. Lastly a student aged between 25 – 30 was 0.308 times less likely to have a poor mental health compared to one aged 18 – 25. From the findings of this study, we can therefore conclude that the following hypotheses were supported by the study, mental health is associated with engagement in disruptive behavior, parents’ ability to manage university expenses for their students at campus, pressure from parents regarding their academic performance and age of the respondent.