Social representations of Brazilian university students about the influences on adherence to distancing-social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Autor(a) principal: Rogério Silva Lima
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Roberta Seron Sanches, Paula Daniella de Abreu, Silvana Maria Coelho Leite Fava, Arcêncio, Ricardo Alexandre, Nascimento, Murilo César
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.31211/rpics.2022.8.2.258
• topic: Coronavirus infections; Physical distancing; Students; Social isolation; Universities; Qualitative research; Distanciamento físico; Educação superior; Estudantes; Infeções por coronavírus; Isolamento social; Pesquisa qualitativa

Objective: This study's objective was to know Brazilian university students' social representations regarding the influences on adherence to distancing-social isolation during the new coronavirus pandemic. Methods: The research design of this study was qualitative research, guided by the Theory of Social Representations. The students were selected by convenience by the “snowball” sampling method. The environment for access and invitation to participants consisted of groups on social media. Data were collected through an electronic questionnaire prepared by the authors using the Google Forms platform. For analysis, content analysis was used with the aid of the IraMuTeQ software. Results: Seven hundred and ninety-eight Brazilian university students participated, with a mean age of 23.59 years; 71.7% of respondents were female, 28.1% were male, and 0.3% were intersex. As a result, four classes were obtained, organized into two categories, entitled “Reproducing the voice of science: Scientific knowledge as a determinant of conduct” and “Life at home: Risk and fear in everyday life”. Conclusions: It appears that the participants structure their representations based on scientific recommendations and assume the position of reproducing the hegemonic discourse on distancing/social isolation; however, the symbolic elaboration process is marked by the fear of infecting close people and the desire to protect them.