Several factors can cause damage to the mental health of university students, e.g. academic adaptation, housing change, distance from family and friends, and dealing with stressors regarding new requirements, which need some resources to cope with such situations. The content of this book, from the Master's Dissertation developed by the authors at the Stricto-Sensu Psychology and Health Post-Graduation Program at the Medical School of São José do Rio Preto - FAMERP, aims at describing the presence of mental disorders and demonstrating the implementation of a life-skills training in university students (Medicine and Nursing), randomly chosen in a teaching institution in a medium-sized city, interior of São Paulo state. The participants expressed high symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress in the initial evaluation, however, after the training of group life skills, they showed significant improvements with maintenance of these rates during the follow-up. This training can be stood out to improve the mental health and life skills of the students. It is likely that the intervention group may have helped these students to cope with negative pressures, avoiding risky behaviors, communicating effectively; moreover, coping with adaptations and changes in such academic process. It is worthwhile to point out that this study may encourage further research in relation to mental health and life-skills in university students, and that it will encourage the insertion of programs with these skills training, due to their effectiveness, low cost, the participants´ acceptance, improvement in mental health, and provide increasing academic performance.
Positioning for success: building capacity in academic competencies for early-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa