The mental health of participants in a PET-Saúde-Interprofissionalidade project during the pandemic

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of participants in the interprofessional PET-Health program. Methodology: Descriptive study with a quantitative approach, which had 112 of the 156 people who took part in the project as participants. Results: Of the participants 42% were aged between 19 and 24, 70.5% were female, 58% considered themselves brown, 72.3% were single, and 60.7% belonged to the Catholic religion, 67% were students and 41.1% were studying or had already graduated in Nursing.  The teachers showed the highest level of concern, with 100% indicating a high level of concern. The students' main concern was the fear of dying or of a family member/friend dying (46.7%). The teachers' main concern was the fear of falling ill or of a family member/friend falling ill (50%) and the network professionals shared the fears of falling ill and dying with 38.1% each. The feeling most experienced by the participants was worry about various things, with 58.9% saying they felt it for several days and 19.6% saying they felt it every day. 81.2% also reported that the quarantine interfered with the quality of their mental health. the majority of participants stated that the PET-Health activities during the pandemic helped to reduce their discomfort (50.9%) and that they contributed to good/optimal professional training (88.4%). Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the mental health of project participants. In addition, Pet-Saúde offered important emotional support and opportunities to share experiences, which may have mitigated some of this negative impact.