Online support groups with graduate students: an experience report

Um Relato de Experiência

Abstract

The indicators on the mental health of university students have worsened in recent years in Brazil, producing concern and demanding actions of health promotion and care for this population. Considering the predicted worsening of risk factors for mental health, the possibility of increasing emotional suffering of the student community due to the pandemic of covid-19, and its psychosocial and academic consequences, the project Você Importa (You Matter) was developed. The project is an institutional and extensionist action, developed to promote self and other's care and suicide prevention in the Federal University of Paraná community. This article aims to report the experience of five online groups with graduate students. The interventions were held in the form of Psychological First Aid. To this end, we analyzed the feedback of 21 participants and categorized them into four thematic units: welcoming, sharing, relief of negative emotions, and negative aspects. We concluded that the online conversation circle held synchronously and mediated by people trained in Psychological First Aid proved to be a profitable strategy of promotion and support among peers, beyond the context of physical distance. Therefore, we recommend that universities pay attention to the relevance of prevention and promotion of students' mental health, especially in the context of crises such as the 2020 pandemic.