Factors associated with students evasion of an Occupational Therapy bachelhor degree

Abstract

Student evasion is the permanent disconnection of the student from his or her course of origin before concluding it and it is a multifactorial phenomenon, since it can be associated with personal factors, and internal and external factors of the institution. This research aimed to identify and understand the factors associated with the avoidance of the Occupational Therapy bachelor degree of the Federal University of Paraíba. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied with the evading students who accepted to participate in the research. The data from the answers to the closed questions provided an overview of this evasion, and the answers to the open questions were systematized in categories referring to the students’ positions on the phenomenon. The multifactoriality of the course avoidance was verified, with predominance of personal factors, being the lack of identification with the course, the interest for another career, and the lack of knowledge about the course are the most pointed factors, followed by the unsatisfactory student aid. Thus, priority should be given to investing in the knowledge of the career by society, in the vocational accompaniment before and after joining the university, and to develop actions to improve the structure and function of the course and institution, and conditions of care and permanence of the student.