Mental health, social markers of difference and academic success: investigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on university students

• Grant number: 23/01615-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: September 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Psychology - Social Psychology
• Agreement: CNPq
• Principal Investigator: Alessandro de Oliveira dos Santos
• Grantee: Alessandro de Oliveira dos Santos
• Host Institution: Instituto de Psicologia (IP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 18/15573-0 - Limits and possibilities of the good-living to black students in institutions of higher education: the case of the University of São Paulo, AP.JP2
• Associated scholarship(s): 23/12282-2 - Social markers of difference and academic success of university students, BP.JD

Abstract

This descriptive exploratory investigation aims to assess university students mental health indexes at USP, in a two-dimensional perspective (positive and negative), describe their personal, relational and institutional conditions of study, and identify relationships between mental health, adaptation to academic life and the performance of learning and knowledge acquisition activities, in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The first phase of the investigation consists of analyzing scientific literature on mental health, university students, social distancing and quarantine, university policies that promote health, permanence and student assistance, distance learning/teaching processes, and academic success. It also includes the survey and analysis of data from the 2018 Higher Education Census such as the sociodemographic profile of students and the existence of policies that promote health, permanence, and student assistance in educational institutions. The second phase involves applying the Mental Health Inventory (ISM) and the Academic Experiences Questionnaire - Short Version (QVA-r) with students in the beginning, middle and final stages of their programs. The third phase involves interviews, with students from the previous phase, who presented the highest and lowest rates of mental health and relative to the level of academic adaptation and performance of learning and knowledge acquisition activities. The dissemination of the results will be through WebSeminars, presentations at scientific events, and publication of manuscripts in the form of articles and book chapters. The present investigation aims to produce knowledge about social, health, and study conditions that can influence academic performance and the satisfaction with the academic life of USP students and, consequently, in university dropout. The knowledge produced can subsidize the creation or improvement of national university policies that promote mental health, student permanence, and assistance, to minimize behaviors that lead to academic failure, intensified in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AU)