INDIGENOUS AT MEDICINE UNDERGRADUATE COURSES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: EXPERIENCES AT A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN THE INTERIOR OF SÃO PAULO

• Grant number: 24/01124-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2024
• Effective date (End): April 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Willian Fernandes Luna
• Grantee: Raniel Martinha de Souza
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Historically, universities have little presence of indigenous people. In Brazil, in the 21st century, strategies were being created based on demands from the indigenous movement, culminating in the implementation of affirmative actions in some universities. Thus, since 2007, at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), undergraduate courses have had an extra place designated for indigenous people, through a specific entrance exam, which led to their inclusion in medical graduation. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in March 2020, UFSCar suspended all activities related to graduation for an indefinite period and in July of that year classes began in person. In 2021, part of the face-to-face activities were gradually resumed, having fully resumed in 2022, but with some adaptations. This entire pandemic period impacted the experiences of undergraduate medical students, especially indigenous students, as different social groups experienced the pandemic in different ways, with greater severity for populations that are subject to social vulnerabilities, such as populations indigenous people. To learn about and understand the lives and experiences of indigenous people in the medical course, during the pandemic, an exploratory research will be carried out with a qualitative approach, with a survey of documents, use of a questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and conversation circles, with thematic analysis carried out of content. It is expected to know how the indigenous people experienced the medical course, what it was like to carry out non-face-to-face activities, the students entering and leaving the course, their interpersonal relationships, the strategies for coping with difficulties, the approaches and/or distances with their communities of origin and ways of living and coexisting at medical school during the period of the COVID-19 pandemic.