University Mental Health: Survey of Common Mental Disorders in Students of a Brazilian University

Common mental disorders damage the social and academic life of university students. This study aimed to survey the prevalence of symptoms of Common Mental Disorders) in under-graduate students at a public university, evaluating variables related to gender, area and course. This is a cross-sectional study with a descriptive character and a quantitative ap-proach. Data collection was carried out using an online instrument, consisting of a sociodemo-graphic questionnaire and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). 7.177 (62.1% women, 37.6% men, and 0.3% did not declare, Mage = 25.6 years) students from 77 courses at a Federal University participated in the research. The results indicated a prevalence of 71.52% of symp-toms of Common Mental Disorders. Women had worse indicators of mental health. Regarding the course areas, the Interdisciplinary Bachelors had the highest prevalence of symptoms of Common Mental Disorders (76.2%). Such findings indicate the need to develop student mental health care programs.