INTRODUCTION: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life of undergraduate students from a nursing course in a public university in the State of Paraná, Brazil, correlating with sociodemographic variables, and to compare undergraduate students from first and fourth years. METHOD: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. Thirty-four students (89.5%) from the first year and 33 (100%) from the fourth year participated. They answered the WHOQOL-bref, a questionnaire designed by the World Health Organization, in addition to some additional information. RESULTS: The students were predominantly female, young and single, with per capita family income up to one minimum wage, coming from other cities and living with the family or with housemates. Considering the entire sample, the highest quality of life mean score was for the physical domain (72.7 + 13.1), and the lowest for the environment domain (60.7 + 12.7). Correlation with sociodemographic variables showed that only gender had significant correlation with quality of life. The highest mean scores were for male students in the physical (79.9 + 9.8) and psychological (77.6 + 6.3) domains. There was significant difference between age and income in the comparison between students from first and fourth years, the profile of first-year students being younger and with low income than students from the fourth year. In spite of this, no significant difference in quality of life domains was found. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that nursing students need attention in relation to the quality of life, especially women in the physical and psychological aspects.
Quality of life; nursing students; World Health Organization; cross-sectional studies
