Abstract:

Depression is a major mental health issue worldwide, and university students with heavy burdens of study are at a high risk for depression. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of depressive symptoms among nursing students, and to explore the association between socio-demographic factors, health-related quality of life and depressive symptoms. This study adopted a cross-sectional design. A total of 345 nursing students from a Faculty of Health Sciences were assessed by the questionnaire consisted of demographic information, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), a 12-item Short Form Health Survey. SPSS software, version 16, was used to analyze the data. Pearson Chi-Square, Fisher’s Exact Test and Independent-Samples T-Test were used to compare different categorical variables. A total of 345 nursing students participated in the study (282 females and 63 males). Overall, 92 (26.7%) of the participants had depression of various grades based on the BDI diagnostic criteria using a cut point of more than 17. The depressive symptoms were statistically associated with gender and the parental attitudes. BDI score at the cut point of 17 was statistically associated with the Physical and Mental Health Composite Scores. This study seems to indicate an alarming rate of depressive symptoms. Female gender, non-democratic parental attitude have the highest association with depressive symptoms. The findings suggested that in order to prevent depression among undergraduate nursing students, school-and family based strategies should be developed and implemented.

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