MENTAL HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY IN THE PERIOD OF A PANDEMIC COVID-19
Keywords: Coronavirus Infections; Mental health; Old man
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, the present study is justified by Knowing the negative affectivity which mainly involves emotional states such as depression, anxiety and stress of elderly people monitored during the COVID-19 pandemic in the territory of the Family Health Units (USF) in the city of Natal. This is a cross-sectional and analytical study. Secondary data from the surveillance forms of the extension project “Prevention of COVID-19: telesurveillance of the elderly in primary health care” were used. Of the elderly people monitored by the Telesurveillance and Telemonitoring project, 251 elderly people agreed to answer the DASS-21 completely, 63.3% of the sample was female. 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. Data collected by the researcher indicate that elderly people have significant levels of anxiety, depression and stress (p<0.05) during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The average age corresponds to 71.09 years (SD=7.91). Regarding frequency and percentage, 57.8% had levels of depression; 52.6% had levels of anxiety; and 52.6% had stress levels. Elderly people reported that they (69.8%) already felt anxious, depressive and stressful symptoms before the COVID-19 pandemic. Regarding the prevalence of symptoms, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between genders. It was observed that the fear of becoming infected with the disease, as well as the measures taken to reduce its contagion (quarantine, isolation and social distancing) can negatively impact the psychological of elderly people, thus triggering mental disorders, such as: depression , anxiety and stress, in addition to the fear of dying, sadness and loneliness.