Phenomenological-collaborative research with interventional mental health promotion groups for university students

Abstract

The objective was to understand the experiences of university students entering and completing the program when participating in interventional groups to promote mental health. Using the phenomenological method of collaborative hermeneutics, two groups were facilitated, each with four students from different courses of a public university, which occurred in eight weekly meetings. As instruments, versions of meaning and participant records were used. In the beginners group, the results were: security and relief about life experiences; recognition of fragilities. For graduates group: deepening, questioning and changes in the views about the pressures suffered; change in the ways of facing personal and academic difficulties; re-signification of suffering and how to face psychological illness; prioritizing themselves to reach the desired future; and establishing goals for the personal/professional future from the re-signification of the academic and life trajectories. It concluded the need for institutionalization of public policies of integral care for university students.