Depressive symptoms among healthcare undergraduate students

Abstract

Objective: to identify the intensity of depressive symptoms and their associated factors in healthcare undergraduate students. Method: cross-sectional study developed with undergraduate health students from a public higher education institution using the Beck Depression Inventory-version II and a student characterization questionnaire. The study involved 792 participants. For data analysis, we used descriptive statistics, chi-squared test and Poisson regression. Results: the intensity of depressive symptoms was moderate to severe in 23.6% of the students, associated with the non-performance of physical and leisure activities and with speech therapy and nursing courses. Conclusion: several factors may be associated with depression, thus, further investigation into the related factors that cause its emergence in this period of life is necessary, as well as raising institutional awareness and developing strategies at the personal and group level to promote well-being, improve time management and interpersonal relationships, in order to achieve better academic results and personal development.

Factors Related to Depressive Symptoms in University Students

“…The practice and frequency of physical activity were also factors that presented significance concerning depression, according to what is pointed out in diverse scientific evidence (5,20,36). A quantitative and observational study, carried out through an online questionnaire and applied in a social network with students from the Physical Education course, with a sample of 155 participants, revealed an association of depressive symptoms with low frequency of physical activity and showed that students who exercise for more than 150 minutes per week were less likely to develop depressive symptoms (37).…”

“…In agreement with the results presented in the current study about the predominance of females in terms of depressive symptoms, Flesch et al ( 18) carried out a cross-sectional study with 1,825 students, aiming to assess the prevalence of major depressive episodes in students, and reported that 55.1 % (n = 1005) of the participants were women. Other studies also point out such similarity (3,5,19,20).…”

“…Another descriptive study by Victoria et al (35), conducted in a public university from Rio de Janeiro with a sample of 637 students and referring to courses in the areas of Biomedical Sciences, Social Sciences, Education and Humanities, Technologies and Science, identified depressive rates in the students attending the courses in the aforementioned areas, with high levels in students from the Language and Linguistics course. Diverse scientific evidence also point to depressive predisposition associated with the course, with an emphasis on academic overload, mainly in the health area courses; for example, during the internships, when the students are faced with the health-disease process and address the life and death duality (20,24,35).…”

Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Positive Mental Health Questionnaire for Nursing Students in the Brazilian Context

“…Provenly, mental health problems constitute a serious public health issue, and university students represent a considerable percentage of people with common mental disorders 15 . For instance, undergraduate Nursing students have shown worse mental health than the others and severe mental disorders [16][17] . It was also verified that admission to the university can trigger stress 18 , including attempted or consummated suicide 19 .…”

Prevalência e fatores associados à depressão e ansiedade em alunos de Terapia Ocupacional submetidos a metodologias ativas de ensino / Prevalence and factors associated with depression and anxiety in Occupational Therapy students submitted to active teaching methodologies

“…De acordo com o Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais da American Psychiatry Association (2014), a depressão é caracterizada pelo humor deprimido na maior parte do dia e quase todos os dias, acompanhada de perda de interesse e prazer em todas ou quase todas as atividades, alterações no apetite e sono, perda de energia, sentimentos de desvalia e culpa, dificuldade de raciocínio, concentração e tomada de decisões. A depressão possui grandes chances de se manifestar no início da vida adulta, podendo aparecer, então, no período da graduação de muitos indivíduos (BRESOLIN, 2020). Dessa forma, o índice de depressão em alunos universitários é maior do que o encontrado na população em geral, o que destaca o ambiente acadêmico como um forte fator de risco para o desenvolvimento da doença (COSTA e MOREIRA, 2016).…”