Aim: To identify the representations related to risk notion against COVID-19 and repercussions on their life trajectory in university students from a higher education institution in Bogotá. Method: Qualitative research with a phenomenological approach. Semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions were used with seventeen university students, academically active young adults, at an institution of higher education in Bogotá. Theoretical reduction, triangulation and data analysis were performed with Microsoft Excel®, based on the units of analysis proposed in the specific objectives of this study. Results: The concept of COVID-19 and its effects on the health-disease process from the physical-biological aspect were clearly identified in the category “others” by the young people interviewed; however, the impact on the social, academic and economic spheres was recognized in itself as a result of the pandemic and confinement, affecting their life project. On the other hand, the perception and risk notion in the face of contagion and the physical consequences of the disease demonstrate a social behavior in which being young is perceived as a favorable condition of invulnerability related to the characteristics of the life cycle, particularity that is lost as age increases. Conclusions: The social representation and the risk notion in the face of COVID-19 is built from the concept of the disease which is conceived and dimensioned from the outside. Meanwhile, the opportunity for access to the vaccine is perceived as a favorable condition that will mitigate the contagion favoring the conditions of reopening and “new normal”. Finally, the contingency in public health has helped to reveal the need for participation and listening on the part of young people who demand a position of greater visibility in their social contexts.
publication date
August 31, 2021 8:22 PM
Research
keywords
Anthropology
COVID-19
Life trajectory
Risk
Risk perception of young people against the spread of SARS-CoV-2
Social representations
Social representations of young people in the face of COVID -19
