Characterization of hazing and its association with mental health in Brazilian university students

• Grant number: 24/13693-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2024
• End date: August 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Psychiatry
• Principal Investigator: Eurípedes Constantino Miguel Filho
• Grantee: Laura Fernandes Berto
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 21/12901-9 - National Center for Research and Innovation in Mental Health (CISM), AP.ESP

Abstract

The university learning environment can present various negative aspects, affecting the mental health and well-being of students. For newly enrolled university students, these aspects are related to the process of entering the new social environment, involving violent initiation practices known as "hazing." The practice of hazing involves subjecting individuals to experiences with the risk of physical or emotional harm as a condition for joining or maintaining participation in a certain social group, regardless of the will of the person subjected. Hazing-related practices vary in form, content, and interpretation, and can have different impacts on the mental health of students. Thus, this study proposes the validation of the University Hazing Self-Report Scale to quantify hazing within transcultural university institutions and assess its impact on different mental and psychosocial aspects of students. This will be an observational cross-sectional study that will use medical students from all regions of Brazil as the sample. Students will be invited to participate, and upon acceptance of the Informed Consent Form, they will receive a structured, self-administered questionnaire sent and answered electronically. The questionnaire will consist of the University Hazing Self-Report Scale, a sociodemographic assessment, and already validated instruments for evaluating students' psychosocial aspects. Initially, a descriptive analysis of the social characteristics of the study population will be performed. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability of the scale will be evaluated. In addition, tests of invariance by gender, age, and geographic location (urban/capital) will be conducted using Multiple-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Based on the results obtained from the questionnaire, we hope to not only validate the University Hazing Self-Report Scale but also identify the impacts of hazing practices and the poor perception of the learning environment on the mental health of medical students.