"How was the call?": Understanding the social determinants of mental health of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Mental health of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh is an understudied topic. The overall condition of mental health facilities and services in Bangladesh is very poor and demands serious attention. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study is to identify the social determinants of mental health of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh, and observe the effectiveness of a reflective tool to record and reflect on their interactions with friends, family members, and academic or professional correspondences. METHODS We recruited 22 undergraduate students from three universities in Bangladesh. We deployed an android application to help them describe their mood after each conversation and later reflect on those descriptions. We also conducted two semi-structured interviews with the participants before and after using the app. RESULTS Our results show that academics, family, job and economic condition, romantic relationship, and religion are the major social determinants of mental health of the undergraduate students in Bangladesh. Our app helped the participants pinpoint the specific issues related to these factors. Although our app does not provide any explicit recommendation, participants took certain steps on their own to improve their mental health. CONCLUSIONS Overall, the findings from this study would provide better insights for the researchers to design better solutions to help the younger population from this part of the world regarding their mental health issues.