Korean J Adult Nurs.  2022 Aug;34(4):380-390. 10.7475/kjan.2022.34.4.380.

Factors Affecting Depression in Nursing Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Koh JR
• Jeon J

• KMID: 2532778
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.7475/kjan.2022.34.4.380

Abstract

Purpose
This study investigated the factors affecting depression in nursing students during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods
The participants of this descriptive study were 183 nursing students at four nursing colleges. Data were collected from August 27 to September 10, 2021 through an online questionnaire comprising 101 questions, and analyzed using SPSS/Win 25.0 program by frequency and percentage, mean and standard deviation, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, pearson’s correlation coefficient, and hierarchical multiple regression analysis.
Results
The results revealed that the average score for depression in the participants was 9.19±9.23 out of 63 points. The factors affecting depression in the participants during the COVID-19 pandemic were satisfaction with major (moderate) (β=-.38, p=.009), satisfaction with major (satisfied) (β=-.35, p=.018), job-seeking anxiety (β=.33, p<.001), health status (good) (β=-.28, p=.016), and self-efficacy (β=-.26, p=.001), and the explanatory power of these variables for depression in the participants was 43.0%.
Conclusion
The results of this study suggest that for early prevention and management of depression in nursing students, to increase their satisfaction with the nursing major, it is necessary to implement learning enhancement programs and adopt strategies to improve their understanding of nursing. It is also necessary to develop and implement various extracurricular programs for reducing job-seeking anxiety and enhancing self-efficacy.

Keyword

COVID-19; Depression; Nursing; Students