The Prevalence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorderamong Students Ata’sharqiyah University in Sultanate of Oman

The Prevalence of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder among Students Ata’sharqiyah University in Sultanate of Oman

Dr. Esam Al Lawatia¹, Dr. Sharif Al Soudi B²

¹Associate Professor of Educational Psychology-Psychology Department, A’sharqiyah University, Ibra, Sultanate of Oman.

²Assistant Professor of Measurement and Evaluation- Psychology Department, A’sharqiyah University, Ibra, Sultanate of Oman.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2024.806132

Received: 29 May 2024; Revised: 08 June 2024; Accepted: 13 June 2024; Published: 11 July 2024

ABSTRACT

Obsessive-compulsive disorder considered is one of the most prevalent widespread mental disorders universally. This disorder is likewise known to be a danger factor for other conditions for instance؛ suicidality, drug addiction disorders and misdemeanors among others. A profound understanding of the prevalence of Obsessive-compulsive disorder is significant in designing interference strategies. The current study consisted of 800 male and female students, and from various disciplines offered by A’Sharqiyah University in Sultanate of Oman. Simple stratifies were used as well as random sampling techniques were used. The researchers analyzed the data using descriptive statistics after using the obsessive-compulsive questionnaire, where the results showed that the participants from the university students in the current study have a moderate level of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and there is no statistically significant relationship with the student’s gender. At the end of the research, At the end of the current research, some recommendations were presented, namely; Providing awareness and training programs for academic advisors and enhancing communication with students of both genders – male and female in addition to their various specializations. The study also recommended strengthening the relationship between the university and local community institutions, including social and psychological care institutions, by inviting them to the university to prepare awareness and educational programs with the active participation of university students.

Keywords: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), University Students and Academic Achievement.

INTRODUCTION

In the current research, the researcher will concentrate on defining obsessions and compulsions, the disorder that occurs during their existence, how obsessive-compulsive disorder changed over a certain period in diagnostic nosologies, disagreement about its classification, and a brief general review of the difficulties it can reason for persons.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a significant mental condition due to its pervasiveness and connection with a disability, it is the prime example of some conditions known as an obsessive-compulsive disorder-Figure 1 illustrates this.

Obsessions are characterized by repetition and enduring perspective, mental image, impulses or wishes that are disturbing and undesirable and are normally related to apprehension or anxiety. Compulsions are characterized by repetitive behaviours, as well as actions that the individual believes the need to respond to according to some strict rules or cover his/her deficiency or desire to reach the euphoria of completeness. Toddlers might struggle in detecting and explaining obsessions, but most adults are not, they can realize the existence of obsessions as well as compulsions. Cognitive behavioural theories emphasize that the increase in anxiety in individuals, as well as the feeling of lack of stability, are caused by obsessions, and these theories likewise confirm that the obsessive response in individuals is due to compulsions. With all that was mentioned, it is worth noting that there is some indication that indicates that compulsive behaviours are basic behaviours followed by obsessions whose work is to demonstrate these behaviours (Robbins et al, 2019).

Figure 1: Obsessive–compulsive and related disorders.

Symptoms of what is called obsessive-compulsive disorder began decades before in the seventeenth century AD, starting with Lady Macbeth’s excessive hand washing starting with Lady Macbeth through the obsessions of Martin Luther, it is inferred from the pathological history that this disorder, which was later called obsessive-compulsive obsessive, has begun with human being and for a long time ago. Scientists in the early 19th century considered it a form of madness, but the image began to be evident gradually (Krochmalik & Menzies, 2003).

The conceptualization of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder “OCD” has been addressed by Abramowitz et al, 2009, They pointed out that the concept of OCD is a disorder in which individuals have periodical, undesirable beliefs, concepts or perceptions (obsessions) that make them feel moved to do something frequently (compulsions). Frequent behaviours, such as fear of dirt or contamination, recurrent hand washing fearing germs, fear of disease and hair loss, or localized baldness can be an important way to interfere with an individual’s everyday events and social communications. Most individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD have abnormal levels of non-clinical levels of obsessions and compulsions at some time in their lifetimes. There are many symptoms of OCD such as worrying that he/she forgot to lock the door always pursuing to organize his/her room in a specific way feeling disturbed and anxious if the usual arrangement is not achieved or performing irrational behaviours such as using a particular pen during the final examination, and there are more examples of simple obsessions and compulsions(Abdel Khalek et al, 2002).There are many other behaviours, such as obsessions and compulsive actions begin to show problems that affect the life of the individual when he/she implements excessive behaviours in an irrational way and for long periods that lead to an individual’s feeling of inability to rest or relax as a result of anxiety or boredom (Lack, 2013).

Categories of Obsessions and Compulsions

The researchers such as Garcia-Soriano et al., 2011have conducted research in Tilte: Symptom dimensions in obsessive-compulsive disorder: From normal cognitiven intrusions to clinical obsessions. Their research findings showed the signification and objectives of obsessions and compulsions fluctuate slightly between clinical and non-clinical samples. Where the results of those researches found that the compulsions are undeclared or explicit among non-clinical groups, the individuals without obsessive-compulsive disorder referred to, however, we find that some of them engage in some behaviours to reduce the feeling of anxiety when they have irrational or obsessive thoughts Pattern (Berman et al., 2010). Obsessions can be urged (eg, wanting to talk out loud while watching a movie in the theatre), willingness (eg, wishing someone to go bankrupt), and images (eg, imagine your house was robbed because you forgot to close the window), or suspicion (for example, suspicion about co-workers’ intentions) that frequently come to mind at a level beyond what would be considered typical anxiety about real-life problems. In most cases, individuals who have obsessive disorder tend to have superstitious thoughts, attitudes and behaviours, and this increases their anxiety and trepidation, obsessive disorder is based on specific topics such as obsessive diseases, violence and aggression against others or themself, or orientation towards extremism in religiosity and other disorders and untruthful beliefs (Challis et al, 2008). Table1clarifiesthe types or categories of the obsessions.

Table 1: Types (categories) of Obsessions

As for compulsions, they are considered behaviours that are constantly occurring and repetitive, as they are performed to reduce anxiety and distress, which are considered to be caused by obsessions. Researchers in this field have found that individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD are due to the compulsions imagined by the affected individual, which thus affect the person with depression and high anxiety. To reduce this, it is possible to engage in compulsions to contribute to reducing the anxiety caused by obsessive-compulsive disorder, and in some cases, the anxiety is erased before it occurs, but this is not ensured due to the reduction of anxiety does not last long, because there are types of anxiety that are considered voluntary, but the person with obsessive-compulsive disorder He does not feel that some compulsions are voluntary, consequently, the disturbed individual begins to think reflexively, for fear of something happening or some misfortune, such as losing a family member, knowing that this compulsive behaviour may occur several times in one day, depending on the type and seriousness of the disorder (Abramowitz et al, 2009).Table2clarifiesthe types or categories of Compulsions.

Table–2: Types (categories) of Compulsions

Significance of the research

The obsessive-compulsive disorder causes a lot of trouble to the university student, which causes him great harm. It leads to noticeable frustrations and a waste of time and effort. It hinders the student’s daily efforts, whether educational, social, psychological, or other, which would affect the student’s academic performance, causing him/her to delay in education. It may sometimes cause the student’s reluctance to study and thus influence different aspects of his/her life.

The significance of the current research paper is shown below:

Discovering the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder would help the university student save time and effort and eliminate the distress caused by the disorder.

The discovery of obsessive-compulsive disorder leads to an improvement in the psychology of the university student and the elimination of many of the disorders associated with the disorder.

The insufficiency of Arabic studies within the limits of the researcher’s knowledge that dealt with obsessive-compulsive disorder and its prevalence among university students in the Sultanate of Oman.

The Research questions

Obsessive-compulsive disorder affects students’ compatibility and harmony with the university environment, and this disorder is classified among the most prevalent diseases in the world (Atar, 2017)Consequently, a current study came to shed light on the extent of this disorder among students of A’Sharqiyah University, as the role of the student is not limited to his/her life at the university level only, Rather, it goes beyond leading educational, medical, social and economic institutions, and consequently, if the student subjected from this disorder and discovers it early, he/she will harm himself, others, and the various state institutions afterwards.

Therefore, the problem of the current study is to answer the following questions:

What is the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder among Al Sharqiya University students in the Sultanate of Oman?

Are there statistically significant differences in the degree of obsessive-compulsive disorder due to the variable gender and specialization of Al Sharqiya University students in the Sultanate of Oman?

METHOD AND PROCEDURES OF THE STUDY

The sample of the study consisted of 800 (male and female students, distributed among 538 female students, whose percentage of the total sample participating in the current study was about 67.25%, while the number of male students was 162, where the percentage of the total sample participating in the study was 32.75%).The justification for the high percentage of female students over male students is attributed to the higher number of female students than the number of male students at the university overall. The students were distributed according to the variables of the study, which include the gender variable (male/female), as well as the distribution of students according to the second variable of the study, which is the specialization. College of Engineering, The College of Applied and Health Sciences, the College of Business Administration, the College of Arts and Humanities and the College of the Law. Noting that the number of students with scientific and applied specializations reached 325 male and female students, meanwhile, the number of students studying literary and theoretical disciplines reached 475.

The researcher used in his current study the obsessive-compulsive scale of Dr Ahmed Abdel-Khaleq (1992), where the scale consists of 32 items, and the researcher modified the answer from (yes/no) to the five-point Likert scale (very agree, agree, neutral, disagree, disagree at all). The practical structure-factor analysis for the students of Al-Sharqiya University was confirmed, as the scale resulted in six factors:

General OCD factor, order and accuracy factor, normality factor versus obsessive-compulsive disorder, obsessive-compulsive factor, recurrence factor, and finally the slowness and compulsion factor.

Ethical Procedures

Through the Scale that was distributed to students of the study sample, the following was clarified:

1. The aims of the current study
2. How to participate in the response
3. Personal approval for answers
4. Clarifying to the participants that the data/information is not for publication and that the researchers will use it only for statistical matters.

Psychometric properties of the study scale

The researcher confirmed the validity of the scale through the validity of the external test, and the value of the correlation coefficient with the Maudsley list for obsessive-compulsive disorder was 0.632, which is statistically significant at the 0.001 level.

To measure the stability of the scale in the local environment (Omani environment), the researcher used the internal consistency by Alpha Cronbach method, where the value of the reliability coefficient was 0.842, while the stability coefficient of male students was 0.801, while the stability coefficient of female students was 0864, which are high standards. Thus, the scale can be used in the local environment.

STUDY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The results of the first question: What is the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder among A’Sharqiyah University students in the Sultanate of Oman? To answer the first question, the researcher followed the knowledge of the distribution of scores of the sample members and the limits on which it is possible to judge the extent of the prevalence of OCD or not. Therefore, the researcher made sure of the degree of moderation in the distribution of scores and thus can divide the criteria that help in judging the prevalence of OCD among Al Sharqiya University students (Figure -1), and the Arithmetic Mean = 15.023, Median = 15.00, Variance = 28.659, Standard Deviation = 5.250, Flatness = 0.456, Skewness = 0.00235. The results showed that the Arithmetic Mean and Median values were very close and equal to a large extent, while the Skewness reached nearly Zero.

Figure 2: Frequency distribution of the total score for OCD

Through the finding of the first question which has been mentioned above, it can be determined that the following criteria are considered as criteria for judging the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder among A’Sharqiyah University students, as they showed the Arithmetic Mean (15.023) as well as the standard deviation (5.250) as indicated in Table No. 3

Table  3: The criteria used to judge the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder among students of Al-Sharqiya University

Through Table 3, we find that about 50% of students suffer from OCD, and these obsessions are different in terms of severity, while about 45% of students have OCD ranging from low to weak, while we find 5% of students have middle-level OCD.

Table 4, shows the six factors of obsessive-compulsive disorder that were extracted from the factor analysis for the students of A’Sharqiyah University, in addition to the arithmetic averages, standard deviations, weighted averages and their arrangements for all members of the study sample. The findings showed that the most prevalent obsessive-compulsive disorder among Al-Sharqiya University students is general obsessive-compulsive disorder. Then came the factor of slowness and compulsion, then the factor of order and accuracy, then the factor of obsessive-compulsive disorder, then the factor of repetition, and finally the factor of normality factor versus OCD.

Table  4: OCD among A’Sharqiyah University Students, Arithmetic Averages, Standard Deviations, weighted averages and their order

The justification for achieving this result is that university students are unstable in their thinking and analysis of the social, personal and cultural issues that revolve around them, as we find many different paths affecting their way of life, either in positive or negative orientations. In general, the researcher clarifies this finding that university students are young people who live under academic and social stress, as well as have stress and anxiety about the future, in addition to the presence of a certain group facing difficulty in adapting to university life by facing new ideas and challenges for them.

The results of the second question: Are there statistically significant differences in the degree of obsessive-compulsive disorder due to the variable gender and specialization of A’Sharqiyah University students in the Sultanate of Oman? The second question contains two variables, the gender variable and the specialization variable.

For the gender variable, the weighted averages relied on the number of expressions for each factor, the weighted averages relied on the number of phrases for each factor, and the results showed that the percentage of male students with OCD was lower than the percentage of OCD for females, as shown in Table –5, there were differences between male and female students at the A’Sharqiyah University, where the critical value was (2.36), and this value was statistically significant at the significance level of 0.005, and the differences came in favour of males, which indicates that male students have less OCD than female students.

This result is consistent with the results of some studies such as the study of (Maria et al, 2011) and the study of (Susana, 2008).

The reason for females’ superiority over males in the high rate of OCD is due to several reasons, including Female maturation is faster than males, which leads them to inordinate concern in completing achievement tasks such as exams and preparation for the lesson, which causes them to have a noticeable increase in anxiety, fear, stressed and panic, which is considered main factors in the high incidence of OCD.

Table 5: The criteria used to judge the prevalence of OCD in both Males and Females

As for the variable of specialization among the students of A’Sharqiyah University, the results showed (according to Table 6) that students of scientific or applied disciplines, such as students of engineering and health sciences, are more likely to suffer from obsessive-compulsive disorder than students of theoretical or literary and humanitarian disciplines, due to the difficulty of the disciplines offered by the Applied College which requires high concentration and continuous review, in addition to the lack of time for these students, so that the student in applied disciplines includes his/her studies on the theoretical side and the applied laboratory side. This leads to high pressure, fear and panic among students of applied colleges, which is one of the main entrances to OCD (Xiao et al, 2021).

Table  6: The criteria used to judge the prevalence of OCD among university students according to specialization

According to the current research findings, the following recommendations are highly significant, such as:

1. Attentiveness to the work of guidance programs for students, especially students who were not able to reach the required CGPA.
2. Preparing and implementing enrichment programs for university students, whether male or female, to reduce psychological stress as well as reduce the incidence of OCD.
3. To work, in coordination with the Student Counselling Center and the Student Counselling in the Department of Student Affairs, to educate students and professors alike about the significance of obsessive-compulsive disorder OCD to which the student community at A’Sharqiyah University is exposed.

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