Psychological distress, anxiety and depression among nursing students in Greece

A B S T R A C T : It is usually observed that nursing students undergo tremendous stress during various stages of their course but the knowledge about the stress process and depressive symptoms in this population is limited. The Aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of psychological distress, anxiety and depression among nursing students in Greece. For that purpose 170 nursing students (34 males, 136 females) of the Department of Nursing of the Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki completed 3 self-report questionnaires, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ), the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) and the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The mean age was 21.5 years. No difference in stress and depression on the basis of gender was observed. Our results showed that the scores on the GHQ, BDI and STAI tend to increase in the year 2 and 3. The majority of students reported relatively high scores on the GHQ suggesting increased psychiatric morbidity. 52.4% of students experienced depressive symptoms (34.7% mild, 12.9% moderate and 4.7% severe). The scores on the state scale were higher in the years 2 and 3, while the majority of students who had no or mild stress was observed in the first and the last year. Low stress personality traits were also observed in the first and the last year. However, no significant differences between the four years were observed. Our results suggest that nursing students experience different levels of stress and depression and that these factors are positively correlated. K E Y -W O R D S : Nursing students, psychological distress, anxiety, depression, Greec