Characterization of students of the nursing degree course and their perceptions about licit and illicit drug consumption

Abstract

This was a quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional study. The participant population consisted of 69 students who were attending the fifth year of the Nursing Degree course. A self-administered questionnaire was applied, which was previously validated with a sample of nursing students that were attending other years of the course. The instrument was divided into five domains: general, sociodemographic, economic, personal, familiar and sociocultural information. The study evidence, that the phenomenon of drugs is multifactorial, is associated with sociodemographic, economic, personal, familiar and sociocultural characteristics. The students were predominantly female, of the middle-economic class, with good academic performance, but had unhealthy life styles. Concerning drug consumption, 44.9% had consumed alcoholic beverages and consumed at the time of the study, another smaller percentage smoked tobacco and 1.4% smoked marijuana; in addition, a clear knowledge of risk behaviors and of the consequences to which they are exposed did not exist within this group.