Students' mental health status and its related factors in Sanandaj City Universities, Iran, 2016

BACKGROUND: Mental health is considered as one of the most important factors in the promotion and development of people. This is very important, especially in students. This study aimed to determine the students' mental health status in Sanandaj City universities, Iran, during the year 2016. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, the samples were 1100 students in Kurdistan University, Islamic Azad University of Sanandaj, and Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences. The samples were selected using stratified random sampling method with proportional allocation. The data were collected using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) including 28 questions to assess mental health status. RESULTS: The average score of mental health among the students was 32.10 ± 12.00. The highest and the lowest frequency of mental disorders were related to aspects of social functioning (11.24 ± 3.62) and depression (5.53 ± 5.24), respectively. The students of Kurdistan University of Medical Sciences had better mental health than the other students in all aspects of mental health. There was a significant relationship between mental health with gender (P = 0.06), and marital status (P = 0.01). CONCLUSION: The findings of the study showed that parents, educational environment, economic situation of families, and students' current home have important role in their mental health.