DEPRESSION, SUICIDAL THOUGHTS AND SOCIAL SUPPORT IN NURSING STUDENTS

INTRODUCTION. The study aims to analyse the relationship between depression, socio-demographic factors, suicide risk, and satisfaction with social support of nursing students attending a public school in the North of Portugal. METHODS. A quantitative, exploratory, transversal and correlational study was performed. The non-probabilistic intentional sample comprised 420 students (30 % of the overall population). Data collection was carried out online between October and December 2015. The voluntary participation complied with all ethical guidelines. RESULTS. The majority of participants were female (88.5 %), with an average age of 22.4 years (SD = 4 years). Out of this total, 28.6 % had already received or were receiving psychological or psychiatric support. Depressive symptoms were found in an average of 9.87 (SD = 8.79) students, a figure which is very close to clinically relevant indicators. 32.4 % showed slight depression, 7.6 % moderate depression and 2.6 % severe depression. DISCUSSION. These findings suggest the importance of designing targeted interventions in order to cope with such complex problem. The rates of depression are high when compared to other nursing students and very high when compared with community samples. CONCLUSIONS. The results emphasize the need to develop mental health promotion programmes among this population, together with risk prevention mechanisms through early detection of depressive symptoms and the implementation of structures or professional teams able to provide students with therapeutic support.