Title: Risk factors for mental health in higher education students of health sciences
Abstract: Introduction The mental health of students, attending higher education in the area of Health Sciences, may be conditioned by factors which may affect them as a person, their relationships and their academic performance, placing in cause its adaptation. Objectives Identify the main risk factors for mental health, associated with the academic life experiences in students of Health Sciences. Aims Contribute to the implementation of prevention strategies of mental health problems in these students. Methods The research dealt with a sample of 620 people, medical students, nursing students and allied health students: physiotherapy, cardiopulmonary technology and radiographer, whose average age is 20.3 and ranges between 18 and 25 years old, being 81% female. The instruments used were a Demographic Questionnaire; Academic Life Experiences Questionnaire (Almeida & Ferreira, 1997, 1999) and Mental Health Inventory (Veit & Ware, 1983). Results The results show that attend the 1st year in the course of physiotherapy, belong to the female gender, being displaced, have a lower expectation of career, not be autonomous, show a negative perception of their cognitive skills, lower self-confidence, decreased of psychological and/or physical well-being, academic difficulties resulting from deficient knowledge bases and high levels of anxiety in the evaluation situations, are associated with poorer mental health. Conclusions Calls up a special attention from the different structures of Higher Education institutions, namely, governing bodies, teachers and academic services, to reduce the negative impact of these risk factors and implementing strategies to prevent the incidence of mental health problems in this population.
Publication Year: 2016
Publication Date: 2016-03-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 1
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