Ideação suicida em universitários durante pandemia de Covid-19 : evidências de um estudo transversal

Abstract

Objective: to analyze factors associated with suicidal ideation in undergraduate students at a federal public university during the covid-19 pandemic. Method: study of analytical type and cross-sectional design, conducted at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá Campus, with a sample of 1026 undergraduate students, in the period from September to November 2020, developed online by the REDCap platform. For data collection, the following instruments were used: self-completion questionnaire divided into sections with sociodemographic, academic, sexual behavior and covid-19 pandemic characteristics; the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) module C, investigated the presence of suicidal ideation in the last 30 days; the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), checked perceived stress; the General Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), identified generalized anxiety symptoms; the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), examined the presence of depressive symptoms; the Everyday Discrimination Scale, investigated perceived discrimination; the Social Support Scale (SSS), checked perceived social support; and the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, assessed fear of covid. Data analysis was performed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20.0, using descriptive analysis, with presentation of absolute frequency and prevalence, and inferential analysis. Considering a bivariate analysis, Pearson's chi-square test and crude prevalence ratios (RPb) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (CI) were performed. For the multiple analysis, a multiple Poisson regression model was used. The independent variables that presented a p-value <0.20 were introduced and those with p-values <0.05 with 95% CI remained in the final model. The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of UFMT under opinion number 3.846.876, CAEE 24520719.3.2004.8124 and amendment number 4.229.295. Results: were presented in manuscript form. After multiple regression, the variables that remained in the final model were homosexual orientation (p=0.019); having no religious beliefs (p=0.007); not having academic performance assessed due to being in the first semester of the course (p=0.022); perceived stress (p<0.001); generalized anxiety symptoms (p=0.002); attempted suicide since entering university (p<0.001); experiencing discrimination at university (p=0.029); and moderate fear of covid (p=0.033). Conclusion: the factors associated with suicidal ideation identified in the study were related to sexual orientation, religiosity, academic aspects, psychosocial (stress, anxiety symptoms, suicide attempt and discrimination) and related to the covid pandemic. This demonstrates the need for the implementation of specific policies for the university population, especially in the identification of this grievance and associated risk factors.