No abstract

O Role-Playing Game (RPG) é uma intervenção lúdica que pode favorecer o treinamento de habilidades de enfrentamento (THE). O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar a eficácia do uso do RPG no THE das situações de risco para o uso de drogas, mais especificamente, avaliar a autoconfiança do usuário para resistir a esse uso nessas situações. Estudo exploratório, randomizado e constituído por grupos controle e experimental, com cinco usuários em cada. Os participantes estavam internados em uma instituição privada. Os instrumentos utilizados foram: Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) e Brief Situational Confidence Questionnaire (BSCQ). A análise de dados foi realizada por meio da análise de variância com medidas repetidas. A intervenção ocorreu ao longo de quatro semanas, com um encontro semanal e no formato de grupo. Os resultados apontam que o THE proporcionou aumento da autoconfiança dos participantes no enfrentamento de diferentes situações de risco que desencadeiam o uso de drogas, especialmente diante de situações de conflitos pessoais, familiares e sociais; houve também aumento da autoconfiança para recusar o uso de droga em situações que a usava descontroladamente. O RPG pode ser uma ferramenta útil e complementar para THE das situações de risco para o uso de drogas.

Purpose Mental health issues are concurrent among college students and new interventions are needed to address the problem. The objective of this study was to evaluate the convergence of symptoms into a single factor called “mental distress” and its relationship to mindfulness facets. Design/methodology/approach Brazilian university students (n = 136) answered self-report questionnaires, assessing sociodemographic information, dispositional mindfulness, insomnia severity, perceived stress, depression and anxiety. The analytical procedure consisted of defining the latent variable and relationships with mindfulness facets in a structural equations modeling environment. Findings The proposed model presented good fit [χ2 (23 = 34.38; p = 0.060; RMSEA = 0.068 (90% CI = 0.00;0.114); CFI = 0.951] and mental distress was inversely related to the five facets of mindfulness questionnaire of nonjudgment and nonreactivity. Originality/value The symptoms converged into a latent variable, and the latent variable was related to the abilities of not judging and not reacting to internal stimuli. The relationships found might guide the development of future intervention strategies to benefit university students’ mental health.

The development of mental health disorders is common in the university population, and mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) seem to be effective in addressing them in different contexts. Thus, this study investigated the impact of MBIs on different symptoms related to mental health problems. University students (n = 136) were randomized into MBI group or wait-list group. All participants completed self-administered questionnaires before and after the intervention, and the experimental group answered questionnaires every week during intervention. Generalized mixed models were used to assess the effects of the intervention, which were improvements in symptoms of stress (B = 5.76,p < 0.001), depression (B = 1.55,p < 0.01) and insomnia (B = 1.35,p = 0.020). No effect was found in respect of trait anxiety. The MBI was found to be effective in reducing important symptoms related to university students’ mental health, grounding the use of this intervention to improve it, and suggesting that it may be used to prevent the development of mental disorders.