AVALIAÇÃO DO COMPROMETIMENTO DA SAÚDE MENTAL DURANTE O ISOLAMENTO HORIZONTAL DA PANDEMIA DO COVID-19.

Abstract

COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the coronavirus, first detected in December 2019. With the increase in the number of cases in 2020 in the world, the status of epidemic has changed to a pandemic. The lack of immunization at the beginning, combined with the high spread and lack of knowledge about the virus, put the situation in a state of emergency in international public health and in order to avoid overloading the health system, one of the methods used was horizontal social isolation. However, some factors such as fear of being infected, lack of information about the disease, scarcity of supplies, social and economic situation, can affect mental well-being, and depression, anxiety and stress can occur in the general population. OBJECTIVE: To assess mental health impairment during social isolation in the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: a cross- sectional observational study was carried out, with application of a questionnaire via Google Forms. To monitor the variables from a statistical test, the SPSS version 20 program was used. RESULTS: A total of 268 individuals participated in the study, obtaining the prevalence of the following data: gender, “female” (65.29%); age group “25-34 years” (30.22%); Social class “C” (33.20%); education, “Graduate” (32.46%); employment situation with prevalence of the option “employee” (83.20%). There was respect for horizontal social isolation (86.19) and the demand for mental health professionals during/after social isolation was higher (23.13%). Regarding the options of signs/symptoms associated with anxiety, the following data were obtained: anxiety (72.76%); restlessness and irritation (54.47%); sleep disturbance (50%); difficulty concentrating (38.80%); sensation of nerves on the edge of the skin (32.08%); muscle tension (31.71%); and fatigability (30.97%), and depression, insomnia (44.02%); sad mood (41.04%); feeling of emptiness or irritability (38.43%); disinterest (34.70%); feeling of uselessness (30.97%). The option of none of the previous alternatives obtained (06.34%) and others (09.70%). FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: Given the data obtained, it is not possible to associate mental health behavior with horizontal social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, responding to, but not confirming the hypothesis of. However, there was an exception to the symptom of "restlessness and irritation", where the statistical analysis identified a significant association between the symptom in question and the lack of complying with social isolation (x2= 4,506; p<0,034).