Are students prone to depression and suicidal thoughts?

INTRODUCTION: Depression may affect up to 9.8% of adolescents and young adults and is associated with significant life-long consequences. The aim of our study was to assess the association between symptoms of depression and demographic factors such as gender, having brothers or sisters, background (rural/small town or urban permanent place of residence), perceived financial status, current living arrangements, year and major area of study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: One thousand one hundred eighty-three students of medical or similar faculties, 71% of whom were females, anonymously answered the Kutcher Adolescent Depression Scale (KADS) and completed a demographic questionnaire. RESULTS: We found that 6.5% of all participants (n = 77) had depression according to Kutcher's criteria whereas 1.5% of them (n = 18) reported suicidal thoughts. We also observed the influence of such factors as gender (p < 0.009), year (p < 0.001), major area of study (p < 0.034), and financial status (p < 0.000-0.003), on depression scores. Moreover, depressive symptomatology was most frequent in subjects who were only children, in freshmen and in students of psychology (11.5%, 13.2% and 16.7% respectively). However, we did not observe an impact of such agents as students' permanent place of residence (p = 0.929) or current living arrangements on depressive symptoms (p = 0.940). CONCLUSIONS: Susceptibility to depression fluctuates throughout the course of study and depends on factors associated with the study itself such as the student's major or year of study and other socio-demographic agents, i.e. gender or self-reported financial status.

[Pro health of attitudes of elderly persons with regards to addiction of smoking at the present transformation time]. / Postawy prozdrowotne osób w starszym wieku wobec nalogu palenia w obecnej transformacji spolecznej.

The aim of the research is a subjective health assessment by the old and their level of health awareness about tobacco smoking. The research was carried out by means of the FACIT survey (abridged version) done to examine 80 elderly people (45 women, 36 men) The FACIT scale was employed to evaluate health condition in the area of physical efficiency, psychosocial functions and patients' general opinions about their health. Most of the examined were people with low health self-assessment and low level of knowledge about tobacco smoking. The insufficient health awareness level of the examined elderly people indicated a necessity of implementation of education programmes and easy access to health promotion institutions.

[Legal regulations knowledge among active and passive smokers]. / Znajomosc regulacji prawnych dotyczacych palenia tytoniu wsród czynnych i biernych palaczy.

In the recent years smoking problem is more visible in Europe as well as in Poland. European countries tried to limit smoking in different ways including suitable legal regulations. There came international legal documents. Besides of that some countries implemented solutions to protect passive smokers. Also in Poland there are legal acts protecting non-smokers from passive smoking. Those provide protection from nicotine smog in sufficient way but those are often ignored. More effort should be put in the implementation of existing acts. The main research objective of this document was to show the actual legal regulations knowledge about smoking and selling tobacco by active as passive smokers and their opinion on smoking prohibition in public places.

[Selected socio-medical factors influencing health awareness of the old persons in the area of tobacco smoking]. / Wplyw wybranych czynników socjomedycznych na poziom wiedzy zdrowotnej osób starszych wobec problemu palenia tytoniu.

The aim of the research is a subjective health assessment by the old and their level of health awareness. The research was carried out by means of the SF-36 survey (abridged version) done to examine 71 old people (47 women, 24 men), former smokers or sporadic smokers. The SF-36 scale was employed to evaluate health condition in the area of physical efficiency, psychosocial functions and patients' general opinions about their health. Most of the examined were people with low health self-assessment, health (locomotive disability) and economic problems. The insufficient health awareness level of the examined elderly people indicated a necessity of implementation of education programmes and easy access to health promotion institutions.