ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the incidence of depression and other mental disorders in the general population, influenced by various individual and contextual factors. Physical activity (PA) interventions offer a promising approach to mitigating the negative mental health effects of the pandemic. This study aims to analyze the association between PA and depressive symptoms. A total of 785 individuals aged 37.4 ± 13.2 years (72.5% female) were evaluated at two different time points: the first between 2018 and 2019, and the second during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Depressive symptoms, demographic, and socioeconomic data were assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory to estimate depressive symptoms. Frequency analysis and binary and multinomial regression were employed for data analysis. The prevalence of mild depressive symptoms increased from 23.1% before the pandemic to 35.1% during the pandemic. Our findings reveal that practicing PA before the pandemic was a protective factor (OR: 0.19; 95% CI: 0.13, 0.30; p < 0.001) against mild depressive symptoms. Additionally, individuals who continued to practice PA during the pandemic had a lower chance of presenting mild (OR: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.15, 0.30) and moderate/severe (OR: 0.15; 95% CI: 0.08, 0.27) symptoms. Furthermore, our study shows that PA, which was already a protective factor before the pandemic, remained protective during the pandemic, even for those with the highest levels of depression.
ABSTRACT
This study aimed to describe the working conditions, lifestyle and mental health of Brazilian public-school teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an epidemiological websurvey, carried out from August to September 2020. Teachers from public schools in rural and urban areas in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, participated in the study. A digital questionnaire was used and the study addressed variables related to four major thematic topics: sociodemographic and economic profile, working conditions, lifestyle and health conditions, and mental health problems during the pandemic. The sample consisted of 15,641 teachers, of which 13.3% worked in rural areas, 81.9% were women, 56.2% were aged 41-60 years, 66.8% were married, 99.2% were working remotely and 79.8% adhered to social distancing. During the pandemic, 40.6% showed a decrease in family income, 33.7% were dissatisfied with their work, 58% reported increased body weight, 47.9% did not exercise, 35.8% were part of at least one risk group for COVID-19, 40.5% had some flu-like symptoms during the pandemic and 1.2% tested positive for COVID-19. Regarding mental health problems, 25.9% of teachers self-reported formal diagnosis of anxiety and/or depression during the pandemic. In addition, 7.1% of teachers were drinking more alcohol than usual, 33.4% started having sleep problems, 30.4% were using relax/sleep/anxiety/depression medications, 67.1% reported that their quality of life worsened and 43.7% reported having severe fear of COVID-19. It was also found that 82.3% of teachers had at least one mental health problem during the pandemic, such as increased alcohol consumption, sleep problems, use of psychotropic medication, decreased quality of life, and fear of COVID-19. The results of this study reveal the numerous challenges and the extent of the impact of the pandemic on working conditions, lifestyle, and especially on the mental health of teachers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)