Introduction: The beginning of adult life, especially in Brazil,involves a troubled transition regarding the psychological and physical scope of each individual. The young person is exposed to a series of new responsibilities, which include the professional choice, approval in competitions and/or vestibular, domestic requirements and compliance with social standards. This situation results in a high prevalence of anxiety disorders and depression at an early age. Roraima, for instance, has a high place in the national rankings when it comes to suicide. Therefore, a campaign was carried out at a public reference school in the region (Instituto Federal de Roraima).
Objective: To intervene in the scenario of anxiety and depressionthat permeates students of the final years of high school in order to minimize this problem.
Methods: The action took place on November 22, 2017, in aformat of conversation between volunteers from IFMSA Brazil UFRR and students from the institution. A total of 100 students participated in the action, divided into groups with 16 volunteers and 5 campaign coordinators. The experience we provided on the day of action was relevant to the participants’ healthy transition to adult life. Using the Google Forms application, feedbackquestionnaires were developed. They provided important data on the impact achieved. 76.9%of the students who answered the questionnaire said they felt pressured in relation to the vestibular tests, and 92.3% stated that they think that talkingabout it alleviates tension in some way, that they liked to talkabout it with the volunteers of the campaign and that they felt better to take the entrance exam after the conversation. One of the anonymous comments received was: “[The campaign] helped a lot to take away the worry and tension we felt before the collegeentrance exam, because sometimes we think thatif we do not get approved, our academic life will be a disaster, and it is not like that”; 84.6% would recommend that other high school finalists had this same type of conversation.
Discussion And Results: InBrazil, the problem of the incidence of mental disorders in young people is potentialized by the most widespread model of entry in higher education -Vestibular tests. They reflect a social situation of unnecessary competitiveness and serve as propagatorsof a cycle in which one generation exposes the next one to a hostile environment masked by the idea of meritocracy. This generates fear, discomfort and often the desistence of said dreams, or the attempt to seek dreams that are not really the individual’s ones, but which are more socially accepted. It was this picture that the campaign fought.
Conclusion: It is concluded that the action approximated students in the final stage of school life with people who have already experienced similar situations. This way, contributing to reduce the problems arising from the numerous social requirements experienced by this age group was an important addition to the activities of IFMSA Brazil UFRR and a remarkable opportunity for both the volunteers and the target audience of the campaign, which should continue and be expanded
