Diários da pandemia: registros de universitários sobre sua saúde mental no ano pandêmico de 2021

Abstract

In December 2019, hospitalizations and deaths were reported in Wuhan, China, caused by a respiratory infectious disease that overwhelmed hospitals. The Covid-19, at first a localized epidemic in a Chinese city, soon became a pandemic. Not only our physical health was at risk, but our mental health as well. The main purpose of this current research was to achieve an investigation about the mental health status of Pedagogy undergraduate students in a Public Institute of Higher Education, in Fortaleza-Ceará, in 2021. Specifically, this study aimed: describing the student´s mental health status; investigating the impact of pandemic on their learning capacity and collecting suggestions for actions to improve mental health. Thus, a qualitative research was accomplished, as a case study and the sample was composed by 51 students altogether. Diaries (autobiographical accounts) sent by Google Classroom platform and semi-structured questionnaires sent by Google Forms platform were used as instruments for data collection. A content analysis was carried out with the support of MAXQDA software, a tool for qualitative data analysis. The results revealed a status of mental suffering, characterized by: fear; mourning; anxiety; worsening of pre-existing psychological disorders; feeling of uneasiness as a result of Covid-19 news overload on social media and learning capacity difficulties. This mental suffering affected academic performance. Suggestions were presented in order to improve students’ mental health for a better learning capacity and a better academic performance as well.