Tempos de pandemia: desafios enfrentados pelos estudantes de Serviço Social da UFAM

Abstract

This study analyzes the reality of undergraduate students in Social Work at the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), Manaus Campus, during the professional training offered at the institution during the Covid-19 pandemic, based on the identification of expressions of the social issue manifested in the reality of the students investigated. Thus, it proposes to point out the challenges faced by these students during the pandemic, to understand the conditions experienced by these students during the pandemic period, to identify the profile of Social Work students at the aforementioned institution in Manaus and to discuss the impacts of the pandemic on the professional training of those investigated. The research presented here was constructed from a historical-dialectical perspective in a qualitative and quantitative approach of an exploratory nature, with the carrying out of bibliographic, documentary and field research. The collection of data for the field research was carried out through convenience sampling and occurred virtually, through a questionnaire produced and applied on the GoogleForms platform (Google forms). 100 (one hundred) responses were collected, which represent the quantity projected for this research. This study reveals that most of the students studied lived in conditions of social and economic vulnerability during the pandemic, which is an aggravating factor not only for such vulnerabilities, but also for the mental suffering/illness evidenced during this research. The students' challenges were mostly financial, psychological, and health-related. Finally, the perception of precarious and exclusionary education during the pandemic period is made clear, a fact that may lead to students dropping out of the course.