Social anxiety disorder among medical students in a tertiary care hospital in Davangere, Karnataka
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20191048Keywords:
Social anxiety disorder, Social phobia, Medical students, Social phobia inventoryAbstract
Background: Social anxiety disorder is a common psychiatric illness characterized by fear of being observed and scrutinized by others. It can impair academic performance and can lead to serious withdrawal from society and depression. The objective of the study was to measure the proportion and study the associated factors of Social Anxiety Disorder among students of a tertiary medical college and hospital.
Methods: This hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted among the 272 medical students of a Tertiary care medical college and hospital at Davangere, Karnataka from October to December 2018. The social phobia inventory (SPIN) questionnaire was used to diagnose SAD among students.
Results: Social anxiety disorder (SAD) was present among 30.5% (n=83) of the medical students. The female students (31.1%, n=45) documented a higher proportion of SAD compared to male students (29.9%, n=38). There was a higher incidence among above the 20 years age group and Muslims especially girl students.
Conclusions: A higher proportion of medical students had social anxiety disorder which was influenced by increasing age, female gender, Muslim religion and higher academic years of exposure till final year.
References
Alkhalifah AK, Alsalameh NS, Alhomaidhy MA. Prevalence of Social Phobia among Medical Students in Saudi Arabia. The Egyptian J Hospital Med. 2017;69(5):2412–6.
Wittchen HU, Beloch E. The impact of social phobia on quality of life. Int Clin Psychopharmacol. 1996;11(1):1523.
Hasani AM, Mokhtaree MR, Asadollahi Z, Fereidoni MJ. The prevalence of social phobia among students of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, and its relation with personality traits in 2013. JOHE. 2016;5(2):72-82.
Kessler RC, McGonagle KA, Zhao S, Nelson CB, Hughes M, Eshlernan S, et al. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-III-R psychiatric disorders in the United States, results from the National Comorbidity Survey. Arch General Psychiatr. 1994;51:8-19.
Shah P, Kataria L. Social phobia and its impact in Indian university students. Int J Mental Health. 2009;6(2):1-8.
Jogdande AJ, Gupta A. Social anxiety disorder in medical students: sociodemographic correlates. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2017;4:3293-6.
Alkhathami S, Kaviania H, Shorta E. Social anxiety among adolescents and its relation to quality of life. Eur Proceedings Social Behavioural Sci. 2014;1:1-4.
Mazhari Sh, Ekhlaspour M, Banazadeh N. Social phobia and its association with academic performance among student of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Iran. J Strides Develop Med Educ. 2014;11(2):227-35.