Abstract
The lack of resources to deal with challenging situations may hinder the student’s adjustment to the university and increase the risk of academic failure. With this in mind, this study aimed to verify whether there is a relationship between the profile, life habits, academic experiences, and resilience of undergraduate students in the areas of Health and Psychology. This is a cross-sectional and inferential study. A total of 361 undergraduate students of Biomedicine, Physical Education, Nursing, Pharmacy, Physical Therapy, Medicine, Nutrition, Occupational Therapy, and Psychology, registered in three Federal Institutions of Higher Education in the interior of Minas Gerais participated in the study. We used a sociodemographic and lifestyle questionnaire, the Resilience Scale, and the Questionnaire of Academic Experiences - short version, answered online by the undergraduates, and descriptive and correlational analyses. The results showed average resilience for most university students and good adaptation to the university context, as well as showing relationships between resilience and the study period, being in psychotherapy, positively evaluating their own health, and all dimensions of academic experiences. We conclude that resilience is an important capacity to face the demands of undergraduate courses and that developing it is possible, especially during the beginning of undergraduate life and by adopting interventions focused on self-knowledge, self-efficacy, and good coping strategies. Developing the resilience of students can contribute to promote health in this population and reduce dropout rates in higher education.
Keywords:
Adaptation; Adjustment; Students; University Education; Mental Health