Sleeping well project: dissemination of information on sleep health in the COVID 19 pandemic course

ABSTRACT

Introduction: With the confrontation of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a drastic change in the daily life routines, with reflexes on the general health and impacts on the sleep quality of many Brazilians. This fact leads to a glimpse of the potential existing in virtual actions with a wide population reach, focused on health promotion and disease prevention as an alternative to minimize damage to quality of life. Objective: To disseminate safe information in a virtual environment to the general population in a simple and illustrative way about sleep health. Methods: The university extension project has been underway since October 2020 and has the participation of 10 undergraduate students from the Speech Therapy course and two advisor professors. The first stage of the project was aimed at training and updating the team, by remote means, on issues involving sleep health;in the second stage, there was the creation of a public profile on the social network and the elaboration/confection/publication of illustrative informative materials and with simple and comprehensive language (videos, posters, comics, leaflets, technical sheets and the like);the third stage featured/relies on live virtual actions focused on health promotion and prevention through lives, seminars and open classes conducted by professionals from different health areas and sleep specialists. Results: Between October 2020 and August 2021 the digital profile published 39 posts, IGTV or Reels with informative content about sleep, in addition to more than 200 stories. More than 3000 “likes or likes” were registered in the publications, 3,507 views on IGTV, 347 comments, 381 shares (of which 150 were saved by followers or visitors), 8,280 visits to the profile and 18,524 people/accounts were reached for a virtual audience of 1,731 people/following accounts located in Sergipe, São Paulo, Pernambuco and Bahia, in addition to a small percentage of Spanish, Portuguese, Colombian and German followers. It is also important to highlight that the project awakens in the students the relevance of disseminating information based on reliable sources. Conclusion: Through the execution of the project, important and safe information can be disseminated in a virtual environment to clarify, inform and popularize science with knowledge about sleep health and the prevention of its disorders to an expressive public.