Salud mental, habilidades emocionales, empáticas y de afrontamiento de los estudiantes universitarios del Grado de Logopedia

Background and objective

Beginning university studies causes psychosocial changes that can impair academic performance and social relationships. The aim of this work is to evaluate mental health, emotional intelligence, empathy and coping skills in university students of the degree in speech therapy.

Materials and method

A total of 128 participants from 1 st to 4 th grade with a mean age of 21.33 and 96.9% women. An “ad hoc” questionnaire and standardized questionnaires have been used: psychopathological symptoms (SCL-90-R), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS), the Emotional Intelligence Scale (TMMS-24), the Scale of Difficulties in Emotional Regulation (DERS), the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Brief Coping Inventory (COPE).

Results

The results have showed that having anxiety, some type of chronic illness and being a first-year student presents worse mental health, emotional management and coping ability. On the contrary, be a man, be in 4 th grade and do some type of sporting activity can be protective elements against mental health and empathic and/or emotional difficulties.

Conclusions

Therefore, it is necessary to provide speech therapy students with personal resources within of the academic context to improve personal and professional well-being.