Mental Health and Academic Experiences of Health Undergraduates at a Public University in Bahia
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Abstract
With a focus on health sciences undergraduates, this study aimed to investigate differences between men and women in mental health indicators (negative affectivity, suicidal ideation, and positivity) and the association between these indicators and the perception of the quality of academic experiences. A total of 429 students from a public university in Northeastern Brazil participated. The QVA-r, DASS-21, FSII, and EP scales were applied. Data were analyzed in two stages: a) verification of the psychometric properties of the instruments through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); and b) comparison of mental health indicators via invariance analysis and examination of associations between constructs. The main findings were higher negative affectivity among women and significant correlations, small to moderate in magnitude, between mental health indicators and the perception of academic experiences, highlighting the relevance of understanding such relationships and their implications for institutional policies of psychological support.
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