Parental mental health during COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: Explore the mental health of parents with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: We used questionnaires prepared by Google Forms, applying sociodemographic data, and also the EADS-21, IES-R, PSQI-BR and WHOQOL-BREF scales were applied. Statistical analyzes were performed using SPSS 21.0 statistical software for Windows. To describe the sample, descriptive analyzes were used. In all tests, a statistical significance of 0.05 was considered. Of the 327 participants, they were divided into three groups: volunteers without children (Group 1), with children aged 0 to 6 years (Group 2), and with children aged 7 or over (Group 3). All volunteers were residents from South of Brazil. Results: The groups with the greatest vulnerability in relation to their mental health are those of participants without children and parents with children aged 0 to 6 years, with higher scores for the depression, anxiety and stress, and post traumatic stress symptoms, compared to parents with children aged from 7 years or more. Conclusion: even though the data show that all groups are within the normal range for the scales applied, it is necessary to pay attention to the mental health of the population in greater psychological distress, either from strategies developed by health professionals (SUS) and/or or social assistance (SUAS), either by municipal/state projects in the search for the promotion of mental health.