Saúde mental de estudantes de pedagogia e seu impacto na aprendizagem

Abstract

The objective of this work is to verify the quality of mental health of Pedagogy students at the Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB) and their perception of the impact this has on their learning. The anxiety levels of university students are associated with academic failure in higher education, which is one of the most serious problems that the Brazilian educational reality has been dealing with for many years. Higher education often perpetuates an unequal and exclusionary model of society, focused mainly on the demands of the job market. The levels of anxiety and depression, common among university students, have been a source of concern and study, since academic pressure and uncertainty regarding the future are intrinsically linked to the social issues that these students already face outside of university, including social exclusion, unemployment and economic inequalities. It is clear that these issues have contributed to the increased medicalization of life and education. In order to understand how students on the Pedagogy course at UFPB evaluate their mental health and how this assessment relates to the learning process, we conducted a survey with 90 Pedagogy students, distributed across different periods and shifts. The survey was carried out using an online form hosted on Google Form. The questionnaire contains questions about sociodemographic information, as well as open and closed questions related to mental health, its influence on the course and the strategies used to face difficulties. The majority of participants are low-income women, with a predominance of students in the last periods of the course. One of the main issues was the degree of impact that students perceive in relation to their mental health in learning the Pedagogy course. The results revealed that 84% of students report that their mental health greatly or completely impacts their learning process. The main reason for this impact, mentioned by many, was the difficulty in maintaining focus on studies and the overload of activities. Thus, it is considered that this work is important because it brings to light a social problem that is not receiving the necessary attention and care in the relationships and structure of the university. This study is a step toward deeper understanding and awareness of mental health in higher education.