Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stigma among high school students with deafness and its association with their quality of school life: A national study from Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective

This study assessed the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stigma among high school children with deafness and investigated the relationship between these psychological disorders and quality of school life (QoSL) in children.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among high school students with deafness in Saudi Arabia, excluding students who were hard of hearing. This study employed established, validated, and culturally adapted assessment tools to evaluate participants’ mental health, perceptions of stigma, and QoSL.

Results

In total, 269 students responded with a mean age of 17.9 ± 1.6 years. The mean score for depression was 4.68 ± 5.42, with only 13.7 % of respondents having at least moderate depression. Their mean score on the anxiety scale was 3.75 ± 4.81, with only 14.5 % of them having moderate to severe anxiety. The participants’ mean score on the stigma scale was 6.62 ± 6.83, indicating a low level of stigma among the participants. The participants’ mean QoSL score was 107.20 ± 13.39, demonstrating a good perception of the quality of their school life. Higher scores on depression, anxiety, and stigma scales were associated with significantly lower QoSL scores.

Conclusion

This study stands out as one of the few to investigate the prevalence of psychological disorders and may be the first to investigate the association between psychological disorders and QoSL among high school students with deafness. Although this study yielded significant results, it highlights several gaps in the literature that require further investigation.