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.