The Relationship Between Spirituality Level and The Incidence of Depression: A Study on Eleventh-Grade Students at Pondok Al-Hidayat Islamic Boarding School Krasak Demak

ABSTRACT

Background: The depression incidence around Southeast Asia in 2017 was 85.67 million cases (27%), and 7.5% of it occurred in the 15-19 years old age group. In Indonesia, the incidence of depression in 2017 was 9,162,886 cases (3.7%). Depression can be a major cause of disability and even lead to suicide, promoting many studies to find factors that can prevent depression in teenagers, one of which is related to the spirituality level. Objective: Determining the relationship between spirituality level and the incidence of depression. Methods: This study is a quantitative study with a cross-sectional study design. A total of 106 samples is included. They were eleventh-grade students who only studied Salaf and students who studied both Salaf and general sciences at the Al-Hidayat Islamic Boarding School Krasak Temuroso Guntur, Demak in the 2019-2020 school year. Data was collected using the Spirituality Orientation Inventory questionnaire and the Child Depression Inventory questionnaire, then analyzed using the Chi-square test. Results: The depression incidence among Al-Hidayat Islamic Boarding School students is 12%. Most students (93.5%) have a high spiritual level. There is a relationship between spirituality level and the incidence of depression in all eleventh-grade students, but no significant difference between spirituality level and the incidence of depression among the students who only study Salaf and the students who studied both Salaf and general sciences. Conclusion: The incidence of depression in Al-Hidayat Islamic Boarding School students is related to the spiritual level of students.

Keywords: depression, teenager, students, spiritual level, Islamic boarding school

Introduction

Depression is a mental disorder characterized by sadness, loss of interest or pleasure, feelings of guilt, low self-esteem, sleep or appetite distur- bances, fatigue, and poorer concentration.[1,2] Depression in teenagers is a combination and accumulation of many factors, such as personal, family, social and academic factors that may af- fect depressive symptoms in teenagers.[2]Factors causing depression are high levels of anxiety, dys- functional thoughts about success, lack of emo- tional adjustment in school, lack of a father’s and/ or a mother’s warmth, lack of education, chron- ic medical conditions, major life events, high academic demands, and psychosocial stress.[3]Teenagers who are unable to handle academic, so- cial, and emotional demands may feel discomfort which then leads to depression.[4]Teenagers who experience depression often feel bad about them- selves, have worsened concentration, aren’t inter- ested in doing anything, and have drastic changes in their weight.[5]They also find it difficult to feel joy in life (anhedonia), feel sad most of the time, want to cry, become worried that something bad might happen, are easily annoyed and disappoint- ed about certain events, are unable to change nega- tive thoughts, aren’t pleased with their appearance. They tend to have learning are difficulties which lead to a decline in academic achievement. Peo- ple also often mistreat them, in this case, friends and parents.[2][3]Moreover, depression can also be a major cause of disability and can even lead to suicide.[5]Several studies have reported a link between spirituality and depression.[6][7]Spiritu- ality is defined as a level of self-knowledge and af- firming transcendent powers or fears in their lives which provide a deep sense of meaning and pur- pose. In recent years, research on how spirituality is associated with psychological adjustment and positive development has gained much attention. Through spirituality, people can cope with stress by receiving hope and a meaning for life. This is enlightening, since teenagers are at a sensitive period for developing faith and spiritual involve- ment.[8]

The global incidence of depression in 2015 is

around 4.4%, which is 332 million cases. The in- cidence of depression in Southeast Asia is 85.67

million cases (27%), and 7.5% of it occurs in the 15-19 years-old age group. In Indonesia, the inci- dence of depression is 9,162,886 cases (3.7%).[1]In 2019, the incidence of depression in Demak was 7,845 cases (7.8%). The highest incidence was in Guntur District with 221 cases, and Temuroso Vil- lage positioned the highest rate with 45 cases.[9]Although lately there have been growing concepts of separation between spirituality and religion, they are often interrelated and used interchange- ably.[10]In a survey conducted by Gallup World Poll, found that in 143 countries (n = 140,000), 92% of people in 32 developing countries indicat- ed that religion was an important part of their daily life.[11]

Knowing the big impact of depression, espe- cially in teenagers, researchers conducted studies on various factors that can decrease or prevent depression in teenagers, such as cognitive ther- apy intervention programs, positive education programs, and spiritually integrated depression management programs.[12–16] However, there had been a different result reported by Ola, stat- ing that spirituality wasn’t significantly associated with depression but had a significant relationship with anxiety.[17]The existence of inconsistent re- sults regarding the relationship of spirituality with depression makes this research interesting to be studied. In addition, previous studies had already reported the relationship between spirituality and depression in students and have never been con- ducted on high school students in Islamic boarding schools. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the relationship between the spirituality level and the incidence of depression in high school students at the Temuroso Islamic Boarding School, Guntur District.

Method

Design, Time, and Place: This research is an observational quantitative study with a cross-sec- tional approach. The research was conducted at Al-Hidayat Krasak Temuroso Islamic Boarding School Guntur Demak in November 2020.

Population and Sample: The research subjects were eleventh-grade students at Pondok Pesantren Al-Hidayat Krasak Temuroso Guntur Demak for

the 2019/2020 academic year who met the inclu

sion criteria. The inclusion criteria cover male and female eleventh-grade students of the 2019/2020 school year who are willing to take part in the study and don’t meet the exclusion criteria, name- ly consuming drugs (narcotics, psychotropics, and other addictive substances), suffering from severe and chronic physical illness and suffering from psychotic disorders. The number of research sam- ples was 108 students and was selected using strat- ified random sampling.

The Measuring Instruments: The Spirituali- ty Orientation Inventory Questionnaire consists of 40 questions. Each question was rated with a Likert scale of 1-5, ranging from very inappro- priate to very appropriate. Answer “Very Appro- priate” (VA) scores 5, “Appropriate” (A) scores 4, “Less Appropriate” (LS) scores 3, “Disagree” (DA) scores 2, and “Very Disagree” (VDA) scores

1. The spirituality level results are then further categorized into low, moderate, and high. Next, the depression measuring instrument used is the Child Depression Inventory Questionnaire which consists of 27 questions with three answer choic- es. Each answer scored from 0 to 2. The total score was added, then categorized into non-depressed (score 0-12) and depressed (score 13-54). The stu- dent’s demographic data questionnaire contains demographic characteristics, such as name, gen- der, age, mother’s education level, the reason for entering a boarding school, and a genogram.

Data Processing and Analysis

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