Depression among nursing students and its association with academic life.

OBJECTIVE

To measure the levels of depression among Nursing students from a public institution of higher education and the association with aspects of academic life.

METHOD

Analytical and quantitative study with 203 students from a higher education institution that uses active methodologies. We used Beck's Depression Inventory and the Likert type scale of academic factors.

RESULTS

We verified that 19.2% had moderate or severe levels of depression. Higher levels of depression were associated with female gender (p=0.003), working more than 40 hours per week (p=0.047), spending more than 90 minutes to reach academic activities (p=0.043) and with 12 academic factors specific to routines of the studied institution.

CONCLUSION

The results contribute to managers' and professors' reflection and analysis concerning nursing students' mental health, in addition to indicating in which aspects there is a need to provide greater support to these students.