A vivência da situação pandémica Covid- 19 dos estudantes universitários : desafios e estratégias de coping

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 is the name, assigned by the World Health Organization, to the disease caused by the new coronavirus SARS-COV-2, which results from the words "Corona," "Virus," and "Disease" with an indication of the year in which it emerged (2019). The December 2019 outbreak of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) has progressed to the status of a global pandemic rapidly, with countries on all seven continents affected. Studies have suggested that public health emergencies can have many psychological effects on college students, which can be expressed as anxiety, fear, and worry, among others. It is recommended that the mental health of college students be monitored during upcoming pandemic outbreaks that may exist, as college students are a population that is considered particularly vulnerable to mental health problems. Objective: This study aims to understand how college students experienced the pandemic, what consequences they felt in their daily lives and how they managed its effects. In a global way, it intends to obtain the lived experience of the pandemic phenomenon by the students and how they meant it. Method: This study included 10 university students, 5 female and 5 male, selected according to the following inclusion criterion: attending higher education in the year the COVID-19 pandemic began. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IFA) was used, using a purposive sampling process, seeking to include participants considered as "experts" in the phenomenon (experiential experts), so to better understand the experience of college students, we used the students themselves. The participants of this study were recruited through informal contacts, and their access was obtained using the snowball sampling strategy. Results: Most of the participants' discourse is directed towards the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the area of academic life and family relationships. Paradoxically, the focus on positive aspects by the participants is also on academic life and family relationships. The present study found no differences between the experiences of university students of the COVID-19 pandemic in public and private education, but there is a significant difference between men and women in terms of feelings of depression, with women being the most affected. Differences were found between first cycle students and second cycle students. Second cycle students overall were more impacted by the COVID 19 pandemic, showing significant differences compared to first cycle students in family and interpersonal relationships and psychological impact. Discussion: The results of the present study are in line with international results, pointing out the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the lives of young university students. The need to adopt preventive and remedial measures that can minimize the negative experience and impact of the pandemic is discussed.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	Portuguese
Supervisor	Ana Rita Conde Dias (Supervisor)