The mental health of Brazilian healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic: a longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the distress level among Brazilian healthcare professionals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and estimate risks by sex, age, and occupation. METHODS: In a longitudinal cohort design, a nationally distributed online survey was used to collect data from 10,490 active healthcare professionals who worked during the pandemic. Participants were mostly female, aged 18 to 82 years; 13 different health professions and all states of Brazil were represented. RESULTS: The most frequent professions were psychology, dentistry, and nursing. The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) score suggested an increased distress perception among health professionals. Females showed poorer mental health than males, but the absolute rise in Global Severity Index (GSI) score was larger in males than in females. Younger adults reported more symptoms of psychological distress than older adults. The most impacted age group was between 30-39 years. Nurse technicians presented the highest risk of distress. CONCLUSION: Health professionals are essential to overcoming the pandemic; thus, their mental health status should be monitored, and features associated with increased distress should be identified. Our findings suggest distress risk should be stratified by occupation, age, and sex. Health professionals showed an increased distress perception. Women, individuals between the ages of 30 and 39, nursing personnel, and physicians were more likely to report distress compared with other health professionals.

Emotional Stability and Anxiety Symptoms Differentiates People Leaving the Home Usually During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

Objective: The population's adhesion to measures to ensure social distancing represents a great management challenge in a pandemic context. Despite of evidence shown that social distancing is effective, lack of adherence still persists in many countries. Therefore, it is challenging to separate the effectiveness of government measures, from social distancing driven by personal initiatives. Theory: It is possible that the output of protective behaviors, such as adherence to protective measures and staying in social isolation, is influenced by individual characteristics, such as personality traits or symptoms of mental distress of anxiogenic nature. We hypothesized that individuals with more expressive symptoms of fear or anxiety would have a more protective behavioral tendency in terms of risk exposure, leaving less home during the pandemic. In contrast, individuals with greater emotional stability, as they feel more secure and with a lower perception of risk, could go out more often. Method: A total of 2709 individuals from all regions of Brazil participated in the study (mean age = 42 years; 2134 women). Correlation analysis was performed to investigate the relationships between personality traits according to the big five model and Psychopathological Symptoms (BSI). Then, correlation analysis was performed to investigate how people that go out often differ from people that stay at home, in both symptoms and personality traits. Finally, to investigate the predictors for going out usually, we use multiple regression analysis, using gender, marital status, level of education, and personality traits. Results: During the second wave of COVID-19 in Brazil, individuals with higher emotional stability tended to leave home more than those with more expressive levels of anxiogenic dysregulation. These results reinforce the role of both personality traits and psychopathological symptoms in prophylactic behavior during COVID-19 pandemics. Conclusions: Individuals with greater emotional stability were more likely to leave home during the second wave of COVID-19 than those with higher levels of anxiogenic dysregulation.

BEAVEREMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTRESS DURING COVID-19 PANDEMICS: THE IMPACT OF DEATH EXPERIENCE ON MENTAL HEALTH

ABSTRACT The covid-19 pandemic has been a disturbing experience of proximity to death. As the pandemic goes on, the mixed experience of loss of a close family or friends added to the unpredictability of economic changes and the social isolation can elicit negative manifestations of affection, and psychological distress. The whole experience negatively affects individuals with or without previous mental health disorders. Objective: The present study is a cohort aimed to analyze the effect of the salience of mortality during the covid-19 pandemic on the mental health of a sample of the Brazilian population. Method: 9,024 Brazilians were evaluated based on the data collection performed through the online Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), during the social isolation period. Participants were divided into four groups, G1 (2,256) without previous history of mental disorders (MD), G2 (2,256) with a previous history of MD and both no loss of family or friends due to direct effect of SARS-COV2 infection, G3 (2256) with a previous history of MD and without a loss and G4 (2256), with a prior MD and reported a loss of family or friend due to direct effect of SARS-COV2 infection. The group data was analyzed using the covariance analysis - ANCOVA. Results: The loss of a family member or friend due to direct effect of SARS-COV2 infection amplifies psychological distress. This effect seems to be dramatically increased in individuals with a previous history of mental disorders. The population with loss should be target of mitigation actions to minimize the pandemic effects.