Exploring the relationship between mental health-related problems and undergraduate student dropout: A case study within a civil engineering program

• Autores: Del Savio, Alexandre Almeida, Galantini Velarde, Katerina Paola, Pachas Pacheco, Nelsa Alejandra
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2022
• Institución: Universidad de Lima
• Repositorio: ULIMA-Institucional
• Lenguaje: inglés
• OAI Identifier: oai:repositorio.ulima.edu.pe:20.500.12724/17859
• Enlace del recurso: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12724/17859; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e09504
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: College dropouts; Dropouts; Undergraduates; Engineering students; Civil engineering; COVID-19 (Disease); Case studies; https://purl.org/pe-repo/ocde/ford#2.01.00

Dropout has always been a concerning issue within higher education. This research explores the relationship between mental health-related problems and undergraduate students’ dropout rates amid the COVID-19 pandemic and within a civil engineering program. The study is quantitative descriptive, with a non-experimental and longitudinal design. Results show that the dropout rates of civil engineering students from a private university have increased, comparing before and after the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily due to mental health-related problems. Three strong tendencies within these rates have been detected, directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was concluded that undergraduate students’ mental health had been undermined due to the pandemics, which has had an immediate impact on the increase of dropout rates.