Treinamento de habilidades sociais e sofrimento psicológico em estudantes da área de saúde: avaliando uma intervenção em ambiente virtual

Abstract

The high prevalence of symptoms of psychological distress among undergraduate students in the health field has indicated the need for interventions to promote mental health in this population. Studies on the subject have suggested that programs focused on developing social skills in this population appear to be a viable alternative with good results in this context. Therefore, this thesis investigated the impact of a Social Skills Training (SST) program, applied in a virtual environment, synchronously, on the psychological distress of undergraduate students in the health field, considering the relationship between social skills (SS) and mental health. The hypothesis was that interventions aimed at developing SS could promote improvements in indicators of social anxiety, generalized anxiety, and depression. The thesis was structured in a multipaper format composed of three complementary studies. Study 1 consisted of a systematic literature review, conducted according to the PRISMA protocol, which analyzed 27 articles on interventions for the prevention and treatment of common mental disorders in university students, identifying a diversity of strategies with promising results, but with methodological limitations. Study 2, a cross-sectional study, assessed the combined prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms, as well as the repertoire of social skills (HS) in health science students, revealing a high prevalence of psychological distress, with no significant differences between the mental health profile of public and private institutions. On the other hand, confirming previous data from the literature, a significant association was found between clinical indices of mental illness and the assessed HS repertoire. Study 3 was characterized as a pre-experimental study, with a pre- and post-test design, also including a follow-up evaluation. The results indicated that the repertoire of social skills plays a relevant role in the mental health of university students. Furthermore, the Promove-Universitários program, conducted in a virtual environment, showed promise. On the other hand, important questions were raised regarding the limitations of group psychological interventions in this format.