Depression and stress in caregivers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The role of caregiver, formal or informal, has been increasingly necessary, due to the aging of the Brazilian population, which can affect the physical and mental health of the caregiver who often put aside self-care and other activities to take care of the other. In general, with the Covid-19 pandemic, there was an increase in cases of depression and stress. Therefore, the present study aimed to verify the prevalence of depressive symptoms and exposure to occupational stress; the correlation between depression, stress, perception of mental and physical health, and the difference between depression and stress in formal and informal caregivers, during the pandemic. The sample consisted of 96 caregivers, 66% formal and 34% informal, 95% adults, 94% women, 43% single, 45% with high school and 45% with tertiary-level education, 75% worked more than 40 hours and 65% did not practice physical activities. They answered the sociodemographic questionnaire, Job Stress Scale and EBADEP-A-REDUZIDA, through the Google forms platform. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used for descriptive and inferential analyzes (Spearman correlation and Mann Whitney comparison test). The results indicated that 95.8% of caregivers had depressive symptoms and 75% some level of exposure to occupational stress. Furthermore, the higher the caregiver's depression rate, the greater the demand from the work environment and the worse their perception in relation to physical and mental health; and the greater the support that the caregiver received in the work environment, the better he perceived his mental health. Finally, informal caregivers showed more depressive symptoms and greater demand in the work environment than formal ones. Therefore, the importance of carrying out new studies is highlighted, aiming to deepen the subject and develop intervention programs focused on this target population.