Anxiety and depression symptoms in the academic environment: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: To identify the prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms and to verify the sociodemographic, academic and health factors associated with their occurrence in undergraduate nursing students. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, carried out in Fortaleza - CE between June and September 2019, with 199 students from a public university, regularly enrolled in the course. A sociodemographic questionnaire was applied, the BECK Depression Inventory - II, in addition to the BECK Anxiety Inventory. The analysis of the association between predictor variables and outcomes was performed using Pearson’s chi-square test, considering p-values less than 0.05 as statistically significant. Ethical aspects were respected. Results: The prevalence of severe anxiety and minimal depression symptoms was 119 (62%) and 59 (29.6%), respectively. A statistically significant association was observed between severe anxiety symptoms and the variables: age up to 21 years, absence of religion, non-heterosexuals, concern about the future, not having time for leisure and psychotropic drug use. Regarding depression symptoms, an association was observed with the variables age up to 21 years, lack of leisure time, dissatisfaction with leisure time, physical inactivity, insomnia and psychotropic drug use. Conclusion: It is concluded that the conditions associated with anxiety and depression symptoms were more related to academic and health variables. In this way, the importance of early identification and devising strategies related to the symptoms observed is perceived.