Depresión y su asociación con el rendimiento académico en estudiantes de la Carrera de Enfermería de la Universidad de Cuenca, 2023-2024

Abstract

The World Health Organization states that depression is a common mental disorder that interferes in the daily life of the sufferer, characterized by persistent sadness, lack of interest or pleasure in activities that in daily life were rewarding. General objective: to identify the relationship between depression and academic performance in students of the Nursing Career at the University of Cuenca, 2023-2024. Methodology: a cross-sectional analytical study was carried out on 244 university students. Instruments PHQ-2, PHQ-9 assessed prevalence and severity of depression. The data collected were transcribed and analyzed in the SPSS version 27 statistical program, and the results were subsequently interpreted by means of percentages, frequencies, Pearson's chi-square test, prevalence ratio, confidence interval and p-value. Results: of the 244 students who participated, the most representative group was from 20 to 29 years of age, with the female sex being more prevalent with 80.7%. A total of 41.8% showed depressive symptomatology and only 32.4% suffered from moderate and moderate-severe depression. It was found that 62.7% of the population with depression presented poor academic performance; however, no statistically significant association was found between these variables (p-value=0.122). Conclusions: 4 out of 10 students presented depressive symptoms, being female sex prevalent. Of the students evaluated with low academic performance, 6 out of 10 showed difficulties in their performance. However, no statistically significant association was found between these two variables.