O consumo de psicoestimulantes por estudantes universitários

• Autor(a) principal: Maia, Marcelo da Rosa
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional Universidade Franciscana
• Texto Completo: http://www.tede.universidadefranciscana.edu.br:8080/handle/UFN-BDTD/935
• topic: Estimulantes do Sistema Nervoso Central; educação superior; psicotrópicos; automedicação.; central nervous system stimulants; higher education; psychotropic drugs; self-medication.; Ciências da Saúde e da Vida

The use of psychostimulants for increasing demands of cognitive and academic performance has grown attention due to the impact on the health of its user. Studies point to that this problem relates to difficulties in health care access, the intense competitiveness of the academic environment and the need for students to include themselves in social groups. This work consists of two studies, arranged in specific chapters, and aims to understand and investigate the prevalence of psychoactive substances use, practiced by higher education students. In the first chapter, we carried out a survey with university students, through an online questionnaire. This research complied with all ethical requirements, approved by the Franciscan University Research Ethics Committee. With a total of 880 responses, this study showed a high consumption of caffeine (83.1%) among participants, with a higher prevalence among the female population, claiming an improvement in cognition and the need to maintain the wakefulness state. The consumption of other psychostimulant substances, mainly, nicotine, methylphenidate, methylenedioxymethamphetamine, ecstasy, cocaine, crack, merla, methamphetamine, in addition to the ketamine, are more frequent among the male public and those who declare themselves of another gender, with the motivation of improving academic performance and recreation. Family income was statistically relevant when established that, the higher it was, the more the student consumed ketamine. Non-user participants more often stated that the reasons for not using are prior information about the substances effects and guidance from family and friends. In the second study’s chapter, we present a narrative review about the worldwide phenomenon of psychostimulants self-medication among university students. The results indicate the vulnerability of this population regarding the risks of self-medication, especially the use of stimulants and analgesics. The main reasons for seeking psychostimulants are increased academic performance and competitiveness among colleagues. It was possible to verify the researchers concerns with the expansion of the consumption of several classes of medicines by university students, without a medical professional indication and/or monitoring. As a general conclusion, the need to raise awareness among students, family members and authorities regarding the implementation of public policies to combat the misuse of psychostimulants was evident.