EVALUATION OF DEPRESSION AMONG CHINESE AND NON-CHINESE STUDENTS IN HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY, JAPAN

Abstract

A total of 813 are foreign students from 77 different countries are studying in Hokkaido University (Hokudai), among them 306 are Chinese. The existing health education, health promotion and disease prevention programs of Hokudai Students Health Center (HSHC) may not meet the needs of international students like Chinese students. The objective of this study is to determine the prevalence of depression, examine potential risk factors for depression among international students of this campus and at last, recommend potential interventional measures to alleviate the stressful life event. This cross-sectional study was carried out among Chinese students in 2007. A Self-administered questionnaire was sent to them by mail. Levels of depression were measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). More Chinese students were psychologically distressed (51.5%) in comparison to non-Chinese students (36.8%).