ABSTRACT
Depression is reflected as a serious health issue that impairs cognitive, psychomotor, and vegetative functioning as well as leading to disinterest in previously enjoyable activities and loss of assertiveness in addition to a drop in productivity at work or school. This study seeks to assess theincidence and perception of depression among nursing students in school of Basic Medical Sciences in University of Benin, Edo state. The study was outlined into five chapters. Chapter one of this study dealt with the introduction of the topic, statement of problem, objectives of the study, research questions, hypothesis and scope of study, the significance of the study and operational definition of terms. Relevant literature were reviewed in Chapter two on the subject under discourse, theoretical framework and empirical review of related studies were also discussed in this chapter. Chapter three dealt with research methodology, which adopted the survey research design, and convenient sampling method was used to select two hundred and seventy-two (272) nursing students in school of Basic Medical Sciences in University of Benin, Edo state. A well-structured questionnaire was used as instrument of data collection. Analysis and interpretation of data were discussed in Chapter Four, using tables with percentage and means to represent the information. The result from the indicate that 35(15.4%) have low level of depression, 125(54.8%) have moderate depression, while 68(29.8%) have high level of depression among the participants for the study. Also, a substantial percentage of students reported a deterioration in their quality of life (30.0%) and a decrease in leisure activities (34.9%) and physical activity (29.3%). Furthermore, majority of the participants identified certain risk factors to be associated with the depressive symptoms and they includes; self-blame and venting of emotions, family history of depression or other psychiatric disorders and sleep disturbance.
Keywords: Incidence, Perception, Risk factors, Depression, Nursing students
