Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Client characterization is an important step in evaluating the services offered by campus counseling and mental health centers and in their further planning and development. The objectives here were to describe reported complaints and demographics among students who sought counseling/mental healthcare at a Brazilian campus mental health service over a 17-year period and to compare these characteristics with those of the general university student body. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective study at the Psychological and Psychiatric Service for Students (SAPPE), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). METHODS: The participants were all of the 2,194 students who sought counseling/mental health care at SAPPE from 1987 to 2004. Information was obtained from clients’ clinical charts. Unicamp’s database was consulted for general information on its students. RESULTS: The findings indicated overrepresentation, among the clients, of undergraduates, female students, students from Brazilian states other than São Paulo, students living in the campus residence hall and those whose main source of income was a scholarship grant. We also found overrepresentation of Humanities and Arts students among the clients. The most frequently reported complaints were difficulties in interpersonal relationships, family conflicts and poor academic performance. CONCLUSION: Course level (undergraduate or postgraduate), study field, living in a university residential facility and reliance on a scholarship grant were found to influence the behavior of seeking mental health counseling among Brazilian university students in this study. Course level was found to influence the pattern of complaints reported at first contact with the mental health service.

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Main Authors: Oliveira,Maria Lilian Coelho de, Dantas,Clarissa de Rosalmeida, Azevedo,Renata Cruz Soares de, Banzato,Cláudio Eduardo Muller
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Associação Paulista de Medicina - APM 2008
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-31802008000100011
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spelling oai:scielo:S1516-318020080001000112008-04-14Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004Oliveira,Maria Lilian Coelho deDantas,Clarissa de RosalmeidaAzevedo,Renata Cruz Soares deBanzato,Cláudio Eduardo Muller Mental health Counseling University health services Mental health services Universities CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Client characterization is an important step in evaluating the services offered by campus counseling and mental health centers and in their further planning and development. The objectives here were to describe reported complaints and demographics among students who sought counseling/mental healthcare at a Brazilian campus mental health service over a 17-year period and to compare these characteristics with those of the general university student body. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective study at the Psychological and Psychiatric Service for Students (SAPPE), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). METHODS: The participants were all of the 2,194 students who sought counseling/mental health care at SAPPE from 1987 to 2004. Information was obtained from clients’ clinical charts. Unicamp’s database was consulted for general information on its students. RESULTS: The findings indicated overrepresentation, among the clients, of undergraduates, female students, students from Brazilian states other than São Paulo, students living in the campus residence hall and those whose main source of income was a scholarship grant. We also found overrepresentation of Humanities and Arts students among the clients. The most frequently reported complaints were difficulties in interpersonal relationships, family conflicts and poor academic performance. CONCLUSION: Course level (undergraduate or postgraduate), study field, living in a university residential facility and reliance on a scholarship grant were found to influence the behavior of seeking mental health counseling among Brazilian university students in this study. Course level was found to influence the pattern of complaints reported at first contact with the mental health service.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessAssociação Paulista de Medicina - APMSao Paulo Medical Journal v.126 n.1 20082008-01-01info:eu-repo/semantics/articletext/htmlhttp://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-31802008000100011en10.1590/S1516-31802008000100011
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countrycode BR
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libraryname SciELO
language English
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author Oliveira,Maria Lilian Coelho de
Dantas,Clarissa de Rosalmeida
Azevedo,Renata Cruz Soares de
Banzato,Cláudio Eduardo Muller
spellingShingle Oliveira,Maria Lilian Coelho de
Dantas,Clarissa de Rosalmeida
Azevedo,Renata Cruz Soares de
Banzato,Cláudio Eduardo Muller
Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004
author_facet Oliveira,Maria Lilian Coelho de
Dantas,Clarissa de Rosalmeida
Azevedo,Renata Cruz Soares de
Banzato,Cláudio Eduardo Muller
author_sort Oliveira,Maria Lilian Coelho de
title Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004
title_short Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004
title_full Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004
title_fullStr Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004
title_full_unstemmed Demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004
title_sort demographics and complaints of university students who sought help at a campus mental health service between 1987 and 2004
description CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Client characterization is an important step in evaluating the services offered by campus counseling and mental health centers and in their further planning and development. The objectives here were to describe reported complaints and demographics among students who sought counseling/mental healthcare at a Brazilian campus mental health service over a 17-year period and to compare these characteristics with those of the general university student body. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective study at the Psychological and Psychiatric Service for Students (SAPPE), Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp). METHODS: The participants were all of the 2,194 students who sought counseling/mental health care at SAPPE from 1987 to 2004. Information was obtained from clients’ clinical charts. Unicamp’s database was consulted for general information on its students. RESULTS: The findings indicated overrepresentation, among the clients, of undergraduates, female students, students from Brazilian states other than São Paulo, students living in the campus residence hall and those whose main source of income was a scholarship grant. We also found overrepresentation of Humanities and Arts students among the clients. The most frequently reported complaints were difficulties in interpersonal relationships, family conflicts and poor academic performance. CONCLUSION: Course level (undergraduate or postgraduate), study field, living in a university residential facility and reliance on a scholarship grant were found to influence the behavior of seeking mental health counseling among Brazilian university students in this study. Course level was found to influence the pattern of complaints reported at first contact with the mental health service.
publisher Associação Paulista de Medicina - APM
publishDate 2008
url http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1516-31802008000100011
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