[Characterization of the students of a nursing course regarding the consumption of licit and illicit drugs]

Abstract

The aim of this quantitative, descriptive, transversal study was to characterize drug use among students in the second year of the Nursing Degree course. The sample of 119 students answered a questionnaire divided into: general information, sociodemographic, economic, personal, familiar, sociocultural and drug usage. The study showed that students possess factors that protect them from drug usage and the acquisition of drug habits; but that they also have risk factors which must be taken into consideration in prevention programs, such as unhealthy life styles or drug abusage in people close to them (family, friends or classmates). We found that the profile of drugs used, containing both legal and illegal drugs, was similar to those in the national and international context. It is important to emphasize that even though the consumption of alcohol and tobacco occupy the highest places, in the student environment as well as nationally, these are not considered as problematic as the illegal drugs.