Lewis C; California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA. lewisc@csus.edu.

PURPOSE: Depression is a major mental health problem in our country. Professional academic programs are known to be stressful and stress has been shown to cause depression. Previous studies have looked at medical and law students but no study has been done to determine the incidence of anxiety and depression in physical therapy students. This study was conducted to look at the incidence of anxiety and depression among physical therapy students currently enrolled in their academic programs. SUBJECTS: A total of 360 physical therapy students from eight different physical therapy programs were randomly chosen. A random sample was taken by dividing up the United States into 4 regions (northwest, southwest, northeast and southeast). Two schools were than randomly picked from each geographic region. METHODS: The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), which has been validated for use in out-patient settings to measure anxiety and depression, was sent to each of the schools along with requested demographic information to be used for possible correlation. Surveys were sent at the beginning of the school year, again before midterm exams and lastly before final exams. Timing of the second surveys coincidently correlated with the September 9, 2001 disaster. ANALYSIS: Repeated measures on anxiety and depression were analyzed using mixed ANOVA. RESULTS: A significant relation between gender and level of anxiety, not depression was seen. p < .05 Females had overall higher anxiety and depression scores than males, but both males and females showed increased incidence of anxiety and depression over time. Scores were below clinically significant in males and only borderline for anxiety in females. Having a spouse or partner did not appear to influence outcomes. p > .05. CONCLUSIONS: In this population of physical therapy students, anxiety and depression was not found to be greater than the general population. FUNDING SOURCE: None.

Copyright 2004 by the American Physical Therapy Association

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