Exploring the effects of COVID-19-related traumatic events on the mental health of university students in Brazil: A cross-sectional investigation.

University students are vulnerable to mental health issues during their academic lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, university students faced mental distress due to lockdowns and the transition to e-learning. However, it is not known whether these students were also affected specifically by COVID-19-related traumatic events. This study examined the impact of COVID-19-related traumatic events on 2277 university students from two federal institutions of higher education in Brazil. The university students completed an online questionnaire covering demographics, lifestyle habits, health characteristics, COVID-19-related traumatic events, and depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms. The results showed that an increased intensity of COVID-19-related traumatic events was positively associated with stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, and each specific type of event was associated with these symptoms. In addition, we found a negative association between these symptoms and male sex and age and a positive association with having or having had a history of cardiovascular, respiratory, neurological, or mental disorders or another disease diagnosed by a physician. In conclusion, this study emphasizes the heightened risk of mental health issues in university students in the face of COVID-19-related traumatic events. Women, young people and people who have or have had a history of disease were the most vulnerable to mental health issues during the COVID-19 pandemic.

[Family groups in nursing graduation teaching practice]. / Grupo de familiares na prática de ensino de graduação em enfermagem.

The centers of psychosocial care (CAPS, acronym in Portuguese) are strategic devices for mental health care currently available in Brazil. Nurses are professionals required to compose the minimum staff of this device, which values the group activities involving users. This study presents a report of the experience of nursing undergraduates from Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso (UFMT) on their conducting waiting-room group sessions with relatives of users of a CAPS from Cuiabá, Mato Grosso state. This experience is justified by the fact that nursing students have few opportunities to develop group approach abilities during their graduation course, which focuses mainly on clinical individual care. The aim of the experience was to provide theoretical-practical learning of all the work stages of group work: recognizing the need and possibility of conducting the activity, planning, coordination and group evaluation. The results confirm the need and possibility of performing group experiences in mental health care and in nursing education.