Mental health of students and employees of a federal educational institution in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil

Abstract

The academic population is especially vulnerable to mental disorders and this can directly impact their psychosocial well-being. In this sense, this research had as its primary objective to verify the levels of stress, anxiety and depression in students and employees of a federal educational institution in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The secondary objective was to identify differences in mental health levels between men and women. To this end, a quantitative and cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 304 participants. Data were collected using a sociodemographic questionnaire and the DASS-21 short form scale. Statistical analyzes were performed using JASP software, version 16.3. The results indicated that 57.24% of participants presented mild to extremely severe symptoms of stress, 55.26% of anxiety and 61.51% of depression. Independent samples Mann-Whitney tests demonstrated that women had higher levels of mental disorders than men, with all differences being statistically significant (p < 0.001). However, effect sizes were low. These results raise concern and the need for greater care regarding this issue, especially for women. At the end of the chapter, limitations of the study and implications for future research are addressed.

DOI:https://doi.org/10.56238/interdiinovationscrese-038