Gender differences in mental health and beliefs about COVID-19 among elderly internet users
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-4327e3110Keywords:
Depression, Loneliness, Resilience (psychology), Old ageAbstract
Older people's mental health is at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study investigated gender differences in home isolation, beliefs about Covid-19 and mental health indicators among elderly internet users during the pandemic. A total of 384 older persons (66.9% women and 30.1% men) answered an online survey devised to collect information on sociodemographic characteristics, beliefs/attitudes about Covid-19, depression (PHQ-2), loneliness (short version of the UCLA-BR), social support and resilience (the BRS). Older women showed poorer mental health indicators, were more likely to adhere to home isolation and believe in the effectiveness of this measure, and felt more self-confident to self-isolate at home. Stronger perceived vulnerability to COVID-19 and awareness of the gravity of the disease were related to poorer mental health indicators among women. Older women are a high-risk group for negative mental health outcomes during the pandemic and should therefore be a primary focus of actions to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on mental health.
Downloads
References
Armitage, R., & Nellums, L. B. (2020). COVID-19 and the consequences of isolating the elderly. Lancet Public Health, 5(5), e256. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30061-X
Barroso, S. M. (2020a). Versão Reduzida da Escala Brasileira de Solidão UCLA (UCLA-BR-R) [ Short Version of the Brazilian Loneliness Scale UCLA (UCLA-BR-R)] Relatório final de pesquisa apresentado para o Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro.[Final research report submitted to the Research Ethics Committee of Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro] Uberaba, Minas Gerais. Relatório não publicado.
Barroso, S. M. (2020b). Adaptação e evidências de validade da Escala Breve de Resiliência - versão Brasileira [Adaptation and validity evidence of the Brazilian Version of the Brief Resilience Scale]. [Relatório final de pesquisa apresentado para o Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro]. .[Final research report submitted to the Research Ethics Committee of Federal University of Triângulo Mineiro] Uberaba, Minas Gerais. Relatório não publicado.
Barroso, S. M., Andrade, V. S., Midgett, A. H., & Carvalho, R. G. N. (2016). Evidências de validade da Escala Brasileira de Solidão UCLA [Evidence of validity of Brazilian UCLA Loneliness Scale]. Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria, 65(1), 68-75. doi:10.1590/0047-2085000000105
Borges, L. M., & Barletta, J. B. (2015). Teorias e modelos explicativos em prevenção e promoção da saúde orientados para o indivíduo e para a comunidade [Explanatory theories and models in prevention and health promotion oriented to the individual and the community]. In S. G. Murta, C. Leandro-França, K. B. Santos, & L. Polejack (Orgs.), Prevenção e promoção em saúde mental: Fundamentos, planejamento e estratégias de intervenção [Mental health prevention and promotion: Fundamentals, planning and intervention strategies] (pp. 113-149). Novo Hamburgo, RS: Sinopsys.
Botton, A., Cúnico, S. D., & Strey, M. N. (2017). Diferenças de gênero no acesso aos serviços de saúde: Problematizações necessárias [Gender differences in the access to health services: Necesssary problematization]. Mudanças - Psicologia da Saúde, 25(1), 67-72. doi:10.15603/2176-1019/mud.v25n1p67-72
Campos, A. C. V., Ferreira, E. F., & Vargas, A. M. D. (2015). Determinantes do envelhecimento ativo segundo a qualidade de vida e gênero [Determinants of active aging according to quality of life and gender]. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 20(7), 2221-2237. doi:10.1590/1413-81232015207.14072014
Carpena, M. X., Costa, F. S., Martins-Silva, T., Xavier, M. O., & Loret de Mola, C. (2020). Why Brazilian women suffer more from depression and suicidal ideation: A mediation analysis of the role of violence. Brazilian Journal of Psychiatry, 42(5), 469-474. doi:10.1590/1516-4446-2019-0572
Chagas, M. H. N., Crippa, J. A., Loureiro, S. R., Hallak, J. E., Meneses-Gaya, C. D., Machado-de-Sousa, J. P., Rodrigues, G. R., Filho A. S., Sanches, R. F., & Tumas, V. (2011). Validity of the PHQ-2 for the screening of major depression in Parkinson's disease: Two questions and one important answer. Aging & Mental Health, 15(7), 838-843. doi:10.1080/13607863.2011.569482
Filgueiras, A., & Stults-Kolehmainen, M. (2020). The relationship between behavioural and psychosocial factors among Brazilians in quarantine due to COVID-19. The Lancet. doi:10.2139/ssrn.3566245
Fontes, A. P., & Neri, A. L. (2015). Resilience in aging: Literature review. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva, 20(5), 1475-1495. doi:10.1590/1413-81232015205.00502014
Haukoos, J. S., & Lewis, R. J. (2005). Advanced statistics: Bootstrapping confidence intervals for statistics with “difficult” distributions. Academic Emergency Medicine, 12(4), 360-365. doi:10.1197/j.aem.2004.11.018
Lloyd-Sherlock, P., Ebrahim, S., Geffen, L., & McKee, M. (2020). Bearing the brunt of covid-19: Older people in low and middle income countries. BMJ, 368, m1052. doi:10.1136/bmj.m1052
Marques, E. S., Moraes, C. L., Hasselmann, M. H., Deslandes, S. F., & Reichenheim, M. E. (2020). Violence against women, children, and adolescentes during the COVID-19 pandemic: Overview, contributing factors, and mitigating measures. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 36(4), e00074420. doi:10.1590/0102-311x00074420
Neri, A. L., & Vieira, L. A. M. (2013). Envolvimento social e suporte social percebido na velhice [Social involvement and perceived social support in old age]. Revista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia, 16(3), 419-432. doi:10.1590/S1809-98232013000300002
Özdin, S., & Özdin, S. B. (2020). Levels and predictors of anxiety, depression and health anxiety during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkish society: The importance of gender. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 66(5), 504-511. doi:10.1177/0020764020927051
Pierce, M., McManus, S., Jessop, C., John, A., Hotopf, M., Ford, T., ... Abel, K. M. (2020). Says who? The significance of sampling in mental health surveys during COVID-19. Lancet Psychiatry, 7(7), 567-568. doi:10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30237-6
Pinho, P. S., & Araújo, T. M. (2012). Association between housework overload and common mental disorders in women. Revista Brasileira de Epidemiologia, 15(3), 560-572. doi:10.1590/S1415-790X2012000300010
Qiu, J., Shen, B., Zhao, M., Wang, Z., Xie, B., & Xu, Y. (2020). A nationwide survey of psychological distress among Chinese people in the COVID-19 epidemic: Implications and policy recommendations. General Psychiatry, 33(2), e100213. doi:10.1136/gpsych-2020-100213
Rosenstock, I. M., Strecher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (1988). Social learning theory and the Health Belief Model. Health Education Quarterly, 15(2), 175-183. doi:10.1177/109019818801500203
Rosenstock, I. M., Strecher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (1994). The Health Belief Model and the HIV risk behavior change. In R. J. DiClemente & J. L. Peterson (Eds.), Preventing AIDS: Theories and methods of behavioral interventions (pp. 5-24). New York, NY: Plenum.
Russell, D., Peplau, L. A., & Cutrona, C. E. (1980). The revised UCLA Loneliness Scale: Concurrent and discriminant validity evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39(3), 472-480. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.3.472
Smith, B. W., Dalen, J., Wiggins, K., Tooley, E., Christopher, P., & Bernard, J. (2008). The Brief Resilience Scale: Assessing the ability to bounce back. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 15(3), 194-200. doi:10.1080/10705500802222972
Sousa, N. F. S., Lima, M. G., Cesar, C. L. G., & Barros, M. B. A. (2018). Active aging: Prevalence and gender and age differences in a population-based study. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 34(11), e00173317. doi:10.1590/0102-311x00173317
World Health Organization. (2013). Mental health action plan 2013-2020. Geneva, Switzerland: Author. Retrieved from https://apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/424776/retrieve
Zanon, C., Dellazzana-Zanon, L. L., Wechsler, S. M., Fabretti, R. R., & Rocha, K. N. (2020). COVID-19: Implicações e aplicações da Psicologia Positiva em tempos de pandemia [COVID-19: Implications and applications of Positive Psychology in times of pandemic]. Estudos de Psicologia (Campinas), 37, e200072. doi:10.1590/1982-0275202037e200072
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Regarding the availability of contents, Paideia adopts the Creative Commons License, CC-BY. With this licence anyone is allowed to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as to remix, transform, and create from the material for any purpose, even commercial, giving the proper copyright credits to the journal, providing a link to the licence and indicating if changes have been made.
Partial reproduction of other publications
Quotations of more than 500 words, reproductions of one or more figures, tables or other illustrations must have written permission from the copyright holder of the original work for the reproduction specified in the Paidéia journal. Permission should be addressed to the author of the submitted manuscript. Secondarily obtained rights will not be transferred under any circumstance.
