Biografia e percursos acadêmicos e familiares de estudantes com sofrimento mental

Abstract

This study is part of the perspective of the biographical approach, represented by the method of life narratives, which seeks to construct meanings based on experiences lived by the individual himself, subject of his own history. Thesis deals with the academic and family trajectories of students suffering from mental illness, their personal and family trajectories, on students who are enrolled in Nursing and Physiotherapy courses at the Catholic University of Salvador and with suspicion of depressive symptoms. Research was delineated in a quantitative and qualitative method, being conducted in two stages: in the first, a prevalence study was carried out to estimate the frequency of depressive symptoms in the study population and to track second-stage informants through application of a sociodemographic questionnaire and academic profile and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). The questionnaire was applied in the classroom of all the semesters of said courses, counting on the participation of 185 students of Nursing and 101 of Physiotherapy. Results showed a prevalence of depressive symptoms of 44.8%, with a higher frequency for Nursing students (59.4%). For the second stage were selected for convenience, students classified as suspects of depressive symptoms using the SRQ-20 score. Data were collected through a narrative interview, which allows, through listening, to generate data about the stories of the individual and to apprehend meanings and interpretations that each gives to her own existence. For the analysis of the interviews, the technique of comprehensive analysis was employed. Ten students, six Nursing and four Physiotherapy students were interviewed, nine women, aged between 19 and 40 years, with family income of up to two minimum wages; seven of them are the first of the family to enter higher education. Admission to the university for these young people who already have a history of depressive symptoms requires major effort from them to cope with the stressful situations of academic life and forces them to operate with the material, pedagogical and emotional resources that are not always accessible. These young people "survive" the stressors, at the cost of an even greater effort, triggering forces in a direction that can construct senses to their existence.