Indicadores de resiliência psicológica de estudantes com deficiência da Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

Public policies regarding inclusive education have signaled to Higher Education Institutions (HEI) to carry out investigations and actions aimed at the accessibility of people with disabilities ensuring everyone the right to education for all. Students with disabilities in higher education may have more difficulty in overcoming the challenges of adaptation when entering the undergraduate courses. This new lifestyle, when not properly experienced, may trigger social and personal problems and stress factors that manifest themselves in different ways in each individual. Resilience becomes an essential ability for this public to resist difficult situations and changes caused to them, understanding resilience as constructed in the intersection of personal relationships and cultural practices. Regarding the facts, the aim of this study was to investigate the psychological resilience factors of students with disabilities in the Universidade Federal do Ceará and relate them to some sociodemographic and psychosocial dimensions (gender, type of disability, age, family monthly income, perception of UFC care in promoting accessibility). The research method was quantitative, descriptive and case study. The population was composed of students with disabilities at UFC undergraduate courses. The research reached a sample of 76 students from all the campuses at UFC, referring to a population of 442 students. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire with objective questions, covering sociodemographic aspects and the Resilience Scale of Adults (RSA). Tools of exploratory data analysis and statistical inference were used in the data analysis. It was concluded that the means of the resilience factors are close to the value 4 (four) pointing to a balance between risk and protection factors. There were highly statistically significant differences (p-value < 1%) in the results of the averages of the following factors: "family cohesion" in the variable "family monthly income", with higher scores for the group of families with monthly income over 5 official minimum salaries; "Planned Future" in the variable "age", with higher scores for elder students (over 30 years old); "social competence" in the variable "disability status", with higher scores for students with motor disabilities. Among the significant differences (p-value < 5%) in the results of the averages we highlight: the factor "structured style" and the general average of RSA in the variable "family monthly income" with higher scores of the group of families with monthly income higher than 5 official minimum salaries.