THE Research Monitoring Group

university students’ mental health in the pandemic context

Abstract

The advent of the pandemic and the necessary changes in daily life strongly affected the mental health of university students. Inserted in qualitative research on the mental health of university students in the context imposed by COVID-19, this article aims to describe the Research Monitoring Group (GAP) inserted in a methodological process. The GAP promoted the meeting, created bonds between researchers and participants; produced vast material on the experiences of university students regarding changes in their ways of life, social relationships and in the academic context. It was possible to identify forms of suffering resulting from the relationship with the Universities: uncertainties of continuity and graduation in the course. Sufferings related to the dimensions of life: traumatic experiences, death and mourning, anxiety about the new way of life, interrupted plans, doubts about the present and the future. In this sense, the GAP proved to be a powerful meeting place, a space for listening and sharing experiences during the pandemic’s lockdown period.