Treino de habilidades de vida e saúde mental em universitários

Abstract

Many doubts and insecurities can be triggered to the students as they enter into the universities since the course they have been chosen as well as the adjustment to the new academic environment. Objectives: To identify the presence of mental disorders and improve life skills training among college students. Method: Twenty six Medicine and Nursing students participated in an experimental research. They were randomly chosen from a teaching institution of a medium-sized city in the interior of São Paulo state. Sociodemographic and Health Identification Questionnaire, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory, Lipp Adult Stress Symptom Inventory and Scale to Assess University Students' Life Skills were used. They were individually answered at three moments from collective application. . Participants were divided into two subgroups with 13 members each and received Life Skills Training through 10 meetings. Kolmogorov Siminov tests were used to observe data normality, and Friedman test and non-parametric Anova repeated measures to compare normality. Results: Students had adequate life skills in the initial phase (average = 40.5), with significant increase after training (average = 55.8) and maintenance in follow-up (average = 54.61). According to the comparisons between life skills, anxiety, depression and stress, in the initial versus final and initial versus follow-up application, data showed a significant relationship between the moments. In the final phase versus follow-up, it was not significant (P> 0.05); as should be expected which establishes the permanence of life skills and insignificant increase in anxiety, depression and stress symptoms after training. Conclusion: It is important to stand out that the training has improved the students´mental health and life skills. It is likely that the intervention group may have also helped these students to cope with negative pressures, avoid risky behaviors, and cope with the adaptations and changes that have taken place in this academic process. However, further research in this area of knowledge is recommended.