Contextual Stressors and Barriers to Help-Seeking Behaviours as Predictors to Depression Severity among Undergraduate Students of Tertiary Institutions in FCT, Abuja, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assessed contextual stressors and barriers to help-seeking behaviours as predictors of depression severity among undergraduate students of tertiary institutions in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, Nigeria. Two research questions and two null hypotheses guided the study. The correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population for the study comprised 12,578 undergraduate students in FCT, Abuja. The sample size for the study was 408 undergraduate students. The multistage sampling procedure was used to draw the study sample. Contextual Stressors and Barriers to Help-Seeking Behaviours for Depression Questionnaire (CSBHSBDQ) was used for the study. The face validity was established by five experts while the reliability (internal consistency) of the CSBHSBDQ was determined using Cronbach’s alpha statistics. The reliability coefficients of 0.71 and 0.74 were obtained for sections A and B of the CSBHSBDQ respectively. The research questions were answered using point-biserial correlation. Multiple regression was used to test the null hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that there is a moderate positive relationship between depression level and social/environment (rbp = 0.32) and financial stress (rbp = 0.33), while fear of therapy (rbp = 0.37), fear of self-discovery (rbp = 0.39) and fear of stigma (rbp = 0.37) showed a moderate positive relationship between depression level and barriers to behaviours. Social/physical environment (beta = .205, p = .000 < .05) and financial stress (beta = .216, p =.000 < .05) were significant contextual stressors of depression severity among undergraduate students, while fear of therapy (beta = 1.026, p = .001 < .05), fear of self-discovery (beta = 1.026, p = .001 < .05) and fear of stigma (beta = 1.081, p = .001 < .05) were significant barriers to help-seeking behaviours of depression severity among undergraduate students. The study recommended that necessary stakeholders should embark on stigma-reduction campaigns to create awareness around campuses and help remove stereotypes associated with depression.