Abstract:
The objectives of this study were to evaluate the mental health and associated factors
of dental students of Srinakharinwirot University. The study was a cross-sectional survey study.
The sample included all 1st-6th year dental students of the Faculty of Dentistry, Srinakharinwirot
University during December 2011 to January 2012. All dental students were invited to
complete the questionnaire for demographic data, and the Thai General Health Questionnaire 12
(Thai GHQ-12). Mean, percentage, Chi-square and logistic regression were used to analyze
the data. The Results showed that, there were 287 dental students (78.6%) who completed
the questionnaire. 107 (37.3%) of the dental students had a Thai GHQ-12 score more than
2 which indicate chance of mental health problem. Multivariate analysis revealed three factors
significantly associated with the students’ mental health: gender, dental class, and domicile.
Female dental students had a 1.82 times higher risk of mental health problems than males.
The Clinical dental students (4th-6th year) were 4.41 times more likely to have mental health
problems than Pre-Clinical dental students (1st-3rd year). Dental students from rural areas were
2.12 times more likely to suffer mental health problems than the dental students from Bangkok.
The three factors that were significantly associated with the risk of mental health problems in
dental students were gender, dental class, and domicile
