Experiences of students at public universities in Pernambuco during social distancing on covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

The general objective of this research was to understand the experiences of university students from health courses of public institutions of Pernambuco, Brazil, the social distancing caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The phenomenological method of empirical tendency was used. Ten university students from Physical Education, Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine, Nutrition and Psychology courses collaborated who forwarded written statements by e-mail. Phenomenological analysis was performed, and presented the experience in the following Units of Meaning: longing for life and of the university routine in person; concerns about the delay of the course; dissatisfaction, frustration and and emotional exhaustion in the face of Emergency Remote Education; fear of contracting the disease and contaminating the family; multiplicity of negative feelings towards the pandemic; uncertainties in the face of the long time of the pandemic, which promoted physical imbalance and emotional; reconfiguration of family dynamics and balance; attraction to loneliness favored dealing indifferently with social distancing; relief through time dedicated to faith/religious belief and leisure/hobby. Concluded, mainly, that these results point to the urgent need for public policies to care for these subjects.