Psychological concept of optimism and drug use among nursing students

Objective: To describe the consumption of psychoactive substances among undergraduate nursing students and nursing residents, and verify a correlation between psychoactive substances and the perception of optimism. Methods: This is a quantitative, descriptive, correlational study involving 229 subjects, including 184 undergraduate students and 45 nursing residents, from a public University of Parana, in 2010. The Life Orientation Test and the Screening Test for Alcohol, Tobacco and other Substances were used for the study. Descriptive statistics, Spearman correlation and Kruskal Wallis statistics were used for analysis. Results: We found significant differences for the consumption of tobacco and sedatives within different series. There was weak negative correlation between sedatives and optimism. Misuse was found for alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and sedatives. Conclusions: Further studies should be conducted to understand the reasons for the gradual increase in tobacco use in the series, the dramatic decline in tobacco use and sedatives in the Residency Program in Nursing and the correlation between use of sedatives and optimism, in order to prevent injuries and promote mental health in students.