Social participation and depressive symptomatology among medical students: A Saudi cross-sectional study

Substantial evidence indicates that social participation contributes significantly to psychological well-being. Furthermore, medical students have emerged as a prominent demographic group affected by depression. This trend is mirrored locally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where medical students exhibit a higher prevalence of depressive symptoms. This cross-sectional study investigated the association between depressive symptoms and social participation among medical students. Additionally, this study examined whether different forms of social participation had varying effects on depressive symptoms among the participants. The authors measured depressive symptoms and social participation scores among 650 undergraduate medical students from the 1st to the 5th year at King Saud University and Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The study tool consisted of a questionnaire developed by the research team to explore sociodemographic and other related information, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to assess depression severity, and the modified social participation questionnaire to assess social participation. Higher social participation was significantly associated with lower severity of depression (P < .001). Group activities (OR = 0.95, 95% CI, 0.92-0.97, P < .001) and informal interactions (OR = 0.97, 95% CI, 0.96-0.99, P = .008) had a stronger inverse correlation with depression levels than community-based involvement (OR = 0.78, 95% CI, 0.64-0.96, P = .017). A prior diagnosis of a mental health disorder was significantly associated with higher depression severity (OR = 2.04, 95% CI, 1.38-3.02, P < .001). A significant association between sex and depression levels was observed (P = .043), with females experiencing severe depression at higher proportions (65.4%) than males (34.6%). Female students had significantly lower social participation scores than male students (beta = -6.62, 95% CI, -8.84 to -4.40, P < .001). The results of this study support the notion that social participation is significantly correlated with lower depressive symptoms among medical students, highlighting its role in enhancing mental well-being and reducing depression burden.