Promoting mental health and wellbeing in the UMinho community

The PROMETEU project aims to understand the challenges faced by the University of Minho in terms of the well-being and mental health of its members. The project is being developed using a stepwise approach, with an initial focus on a study of the prevalence of emotional disorders and substance use disorders, which have been identified as the most prevalent in the general population and in the academic community in particular, and on characterising their risk and protective factors of a personal, economic, socio-cultural and environmental nature. The study will make it possible to move on to further analyses with the aim of modelling the prediction of specific risk for each of the disorders and to provide empirical grounds for strategic intervention actions. In addition, in line with collaborative approaches in health, centred on shared decision-making and the empowerment of the target audiences of health interventions (e.g., Bombard et al., 2018), the study also focuses on the perspectives/voices of students, teachers/researchers and TAGs, on the experiences of well-being and mental health, on the contextual and environmental factors relevant to each group and on the role of the University in this area of health.Recommendations for action/research and the definition of good practices, based on scientific evidence but contextualised in the reality of the members of the University of Minho academy, constitute the final product of the project.Reflecting the experience and voices of academics, the project will indicate procedures and areas in which the University of Minho should invest to promote mental health and well-being.

CECS researcher: Alice Matos

Funding period: September 2023 to December 2024

Funding: General Council of the University of Minho