Associação entre sintomas de desconforto psicológico em idosos brasileiros e fatores sócio demográficos durante a pandemia da COVID-19

Abstract

The context of the global pandemic of COVID-19 emerged the vulnerability of the elderly public from the psychological consequences under the analysis of the Life Span perspective, which understands the developmental trajectory in a continuous, contextual, multidimensional, and multidirectional way concerning genetic-biological and sociocultural influences. The study aimed to investigate the association between socio-demographic factors and symptoms of psychological distress in the elderly during the pandemic context of COVID-19. The research has an exploratory nature and was carried out with a sample of 289 elderly Brazilians, aged over 60 years, recruited through the snowball technique, by virtual means (social networks and e-mail). The results obtained indicated a sample mostly female, with schooling ranging from 13 to 18 years old, Christian-Catholic religion, cohabiting with adult members, family income higher than 1,200 reais and occupation of the retirement type. The most frequent symptoms of psychological discomfort were restlessness, insomnia, muscle tension, and the urge to cry in males, family income between 900 and 1.200 reais, and house size smaller than 50 m²; on the other hand, there was no significant relation between religion, family structure, and the number of persons per family. We conclude that there was a significant association between socio-demographic and psychological factors, which indicates that the elderly focus on emotional type coping strategies, being anxiety symptoms the most prominent which suggests a perception about the loss of control about the future and physical vulnerability facing a stressful context.