Ambiente universitário e sofrimento psíquico: a percepção de discentes de uma universidade federal do sul de Minas Gerais

Abstract

Mental health within the university context is gaining increasing notoriety and importance due to the high rates of mental impairment and awareness raising for the relevance of problematizing the theme, thus the issue of educational policies aimed at university mental health becomes important. Investigating psychic suffering within the university environment has great social relevance, since clarifying the meaning of these relationships implies classifying university mental health as a public health issue, as well as discussing the consolidation of educational policies at the University focused on mental health of the academic. This study aimed to discuss the psychic suffering that emerges within university relationships and to investigate the students' perception of the mental health policies offered by a Federal University in the South of Minas Gerais. In order to reach these objectives, as a methodology, a quantitative and qualitative research was adopted, starting with the survey of works on the researched theme through bibliographical research carried out in CAPES, SciELO, BDTD and Educ@ databases. As a second step, questionnaires were applied to the student population of the researched University, with the purpose of raising quantitative and qualitative data regarding perceptions related to mental health. It was possible to understand more comprehensively the university environment and psychic suffering and, with that, the perception of students about the mental health policies offered by the university. We conclude that there are external factors to the university environment that can trigger psychological distress, but most students tend to blame the university environment. Regarding the policies offered, students tend to perceive the university as responsible for providing mental health support and assistance services and to develop the existing ones. As a result of the research, a folder on university mental health was created as an Educational Product, to be presented electronically to the management of a Federal University in the South of Minas Gerais and other higher education institutions, in addition to a proposal for a lecture on mental health to be carried out in schools in Lavras-MG.