MENTAL HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY IN THE PERIOD OF A PANDEMIC COVID-19
Coronavirus Infections; Mental health; Elderly.
The COVID-19 pandemic has led several countries, including Brazil, to adopt measures to contain
the transmission of the disease. It has been identified that the elderly are among the most vulnerable
individuals to the most severe forms of the disease, being considered a risk group. Given this
scenario, this study is justified by evaluating the level of anxiety, depression and stress of elderly
people monitored by the Telesurveillance project, in addition to identifying, as secondary outcomes,
the effects of quarantine, distancing and social isolation on psychological conditions that age group.
This is a sectional study, of a quantitative nature, of the descriptive type. Secondary data from the
surveillance forms of the extension project “Prevention of COVID-19: telesurveillance of the elderly
in primary health care” will be used. The research included 251 elderly people who participate in the
telesurveillance project, with an average age of 71.09 years (SD=7.91), recruited through telephone
calls and residing in the city of Natal-RN. For data collection, the reduced version of the Depression,
Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used. Quantitative data were processed and analyzed using
the statistical package Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows) in its version
22.0. The research project is in line with Resolution nº 466/2012 of the National Health Council and
has been submitted for evaluation to the Research Ethics Committee nº 4.431.316. The data collected
by the researcher follow the meaning distribution, according to the chi-square test 1168,538ª
(anxiety); 911,410th (depression); 780,737th (stress). Thus indicating that elderly people presented
significant levels of anxiety, depression and stress during the COVID-19 pandemic period. When
asked whether such feelings existed before the pandemic, 69.8% said they did. By observing the
responses of the health teams in relation to symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress identified
during the monitoring calls of the elderly, the preceptors referred them to psychologists at the health
units.