Saúde mental e meio acadêmico: Uma investigação dos serviços de atendimento ao universitário no município de Juiz de Fora

Abstract

The university coincides with a period of significant development in the lives of young people. Higher education institutions, although recently, have shown concern with the psychological aspects involved at this time by their students, since there has been an increase in the number of psychological distress in university students. This study had as main objective to investigate the scope of crimes and perceptions of professionals specialized in student assistance services on university students' mental health, as well as the possibilities of intervention considering the context of public and public universities in the city of Juiz de Fora – MG. Twenty professionals (psychologists, pedagogues, social workers and doctors) participated in the research who worked in five institutions in the city of Juiz de Fora - MG. The methodology adopted by the research was qualitative (survey research). The sample was for convenience, using the snowball technique. The instruments used were two questionnaires and a semi-structured interview. The interview data were recorded, transcribed and analyzed by the Content Analysis proposed by Bardin. Regarding the main activities developed, welcoming practices, psychological counseling, psychological duty, pedagogical consultations, and group interventions, as well as workshops, conversation circles and lectures were observed. Regarding the main beliefs about the professional role, the interviewees highlighted the role of welcoming, helping to adapt to the academic context, qualified listening, health’s promotion and prevention, humanization, expanded view, critical and politics reflection. With regard to the professionals' beliefs regarding the role of student assistance services, the most frequent categories included: reference role, permanence, transformation, exchanges and support. Regarding the perception of professionals about the main factors that influence academic illness, the following were highlighted: psychological variables, difficulties in interpersonal relationships, economic difficulties, and difficulties in the academic context (such as teacher-student relationship, curriculum and academic competition). Finally, in relation to future possibilities, the main subcategories included expanding job possibilities, reformulating the dissemination of services, working with teachers, working in networks and interfacing with other equipment in the municipality.