The entry into Higher Education is a complex process, with multiple challenges and with the confrontation with diverse tasks (Almeida, Soares, & Ferreira, 2000). In this sense, we intend to study the degree of perceived stress, life satisfaction, orientation to life and mental health of a group of higher education students, trying to identify the possible relationships between these dimensions and the student's Mindfulness capacity .

The study will include a sample of 400 individuals, students of Medicine, Psychology, Physiotherapy, Gerontology and Social Education. The study protocol will consist of several scales translated and adapted for the Portuguese population, namely:  Mindful Attention Awareness Scale- MAAS (Brown & Ryan, 2003; translation and validation of Pinto-Gouveia & Gregório, 2007); Reduced scale of the Mental Health Inventory (MHI, Ware, Manning, Duan, Wells, & Newhouse) translated and adapted by Pais-Ribeiro (2001); Life Orientation Scale - Reviewed (LOT-R) developed by Scheier and colleagues (1994) and adapted for the Portuguese population by Pais-Ribeiro and Pedro (2006); Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen et al., 1983; translated and validated by Wheat, Canudo, Branco, & Silva, 2010); and Satisfaction with Life Scale - ESCV (Diener et al, 1985) translated and validated by Neto (1990 and 1993).