Print And Electronic Media: Cause Of Depression

Authors

  • Shehnaz A Shaikh
  • Humayun Bin Irfan
  • Hira Ishtiaq
  • Ishaq Azeem Asghar
  • Madiha Haroon
  • Farida Ali Javed
  • Jawed Altaf Baig
  • Khursheed Hashmi

Keywords:

Media, depression, depression scale

Abstract

Objective: To assess depression in normal people and associate it with print and electronic media of Pakistan.

Methodology: The study was descriptive, cross-sectional and conducted from July to November 2011. Three hundred and twenty men and women, with age range of 20-70 years were included in study following informed consent. A structured questionnaire with five items of Yes and No category relating media to depression was used. To assess the severity of depression Zung self –rating depression scale was used. Subjects with score of 80-90 were excluded as this score is of clinical depression. Data analysis was done by SPSS version 13.0. Pearson Chi-square was applied with p<0.01 considered statistically significant.

Results: Depression was seen in 55 % of subjects on reading newspaper. Watching television caused depression in 59.7% (p<0001). In 68% subjects daily routine life was disturbed (p<0.01). The highest rate of depression 32.6% was due to watching political news, while 28.3 % were by photographs and visuals of dead bodies and 24.6% by news of terrorism. Prevalence of mildly and moderately depressed individuals was 56.3 % and 15.8% respectively.

Conclusion: Reading newspaper and watching television causes depression. The content of news on media in particular leads to depression.

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Published

2012-01-02

How to Cite

Shaikh, S. A. ., Bin Irfan, H., Ishtiaq, H. ., Asghar, I. A. ., Haroon, M. ., Javed, F. A. ., Baig, J. A. ., & Hashmi, K. . (2012). Print And Electronic Media: Cause Of Depression. Journal of Bahria University Medical and Dental College, 2(1), 3–7. Retrieved from https://jbumdc.bahria.edu.pk/index.php/ojs/article/view/26

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2012): Volume 2 Issue 1

Section

Original Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2012 Shehnaz A Shaikh, Humayun Bin Irfan, Hira Ishtiaq, Ishaq Azeem Asghar, Madiha Haroon, Farida Ali Javed, Jawed Altaf Baig, Khursheed Hashmi

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Journal of Bahria University Medical & Dental College is an open access journal and is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. which permits unrestricted non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0