Ambiente universitário e a violência invisível: um silêncio quebrado.

Abstract

Starting college comes with high expectations and hopes for a prosperous future, but things don't always go as planned, as students sometimes face situations of violence that negatively impact their lives. Objectives: To investigate the occurrence of violence directed at university students in the academic environment, its types, and its impact on their lives. Method: A cross-sectional, descriptive study with a quantitative approach, carried out at the Federal University of Campina Grande, Center for Teacher Training, Cajazeiras campus, Paraíba. The study population consisted of students from the Nursing (269) and Medicine (197) courses at the aforementioned campus, with a sample defined as 55 and 40 respectively, calculated in Open Epi. The selection of students was carried out from the available enrollment list, randomly, after a draw to define the interval between the students. The inclusion criteria were students enrolled from the 1st to the 12th period, aged 18 years or older. Data were collected and grouped in an Excel spreadsheet, transposed to SPSS 20.0, and analyzed with descriptive statistics, using the mean and standard deviation as measures of central tendency. Results and discussion: The sample consisted mostly of 68.4% women, 61.05% of non-white race (black, brown, yellow, and indigenous), 74.7% heterosexuals, 64.2% living in Cajazeiras, and 57.9% studying Nursing. 68.42% reported having suffered some type of violence, of which the majority were non-white (60%), women (67.7%), heterosexuals (70%), residing in the city of the campus (53.8%), and studying Nursing (66.2%). The main aggressors were professors and classmates. Final considerations: Historically, violence, in whatever form, is perpetuated in society in a natural way, and it would be no different in the university space, since human beings tend to replicate everyday acts and actions. Punishments are still incipient, and this causes the victim to remain silent. It is necessary to strengthen the channels of denunciation, support for victims, and speed in the punitive processes.