Documents Sequeira, Carlos 4 results

"Objective:
To describe nurses' mental health status during the Covid-19 outbreak and to explore the factors that might accentuate the negative consequences on their mental health.
Methods:
We conducted an online survey to evaluate demographic variables, working conditions, family dynamics, and mental health variables in nurses working in healthcare settings, in Portugal, during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Results:
Portuguese nurses presented higher depression, anxiety and stress levels, when compared to the Portuguese general population, during the outbreak. Overall, nurses who did not consider the quantity and quality of personal protective equipment as adequate presented significantly higher levels of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest that nurses' mental health status seems to be particularly affected by the Covid-19 outbreak and that some modifiable elements might accentuate the impacts on their mental health."

"The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to mental health problems worldwide. Nurses are particularly prone to stress because they directly care for individuals with suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. The aims of this study were (a) to explore the association between the mental health promotion strategies used by nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak and their symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress; (b) to compare the symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress of mental health nurses to those of non-mental health nurses; and (c) to compare the frequency of use of mental health strategies of mental health nurses to those of non-mental health nurses. A cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 821 nurses. Univariate and multivariate regression models were developed to identify potential protective factors of depression, anxiety, and stress. The chi-square test was also used to compare the use of strategies among mental health and non-mental health nurses. Portuguese nurses demonstrated high symptoms of depressive symptoms, stress, and anxiety. Healthy eating, physical activity, rest between shifts, maintaining social contacts, verbalizing feelings/emotions, and spending less time searching for information about COVID-19 were associated with better mental health. Mental health nurses had less depression, anxiety, and stress, and used more strategies to promote mental health than other nurses. We consider it important to promote nurses' mental health literacy by encouraging them to develop skills and strategies aimed at improving their resilience and ability to deal with difficult situations while caring for the population."

"Objectives
To evaluate and compare nurses' depression, anxiety and stress symptoms at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and after six months; to evaluate and compare the frequency of use of mental health promotion strategies during the same period; and to identify the relationship between the frequency of use of mental health promotion strategies, during the same period, with nurses' depression, anxiety and stress symptoms.
Methods
Data collection was carried out in two moments: at baseline and after six months. An online questionnaire was applied to nurses to assess the frequency of use of some mental health promotion strategies and their depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms (through the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales – short version (DASS-21)).
Results
The anxiety and stress symptoms significantly decreased over time. The physical activity increased, and a decrease was observed in the remote social contacts after six months. The stress, anxiety and depression scores were significantly lower in nurses who frequently or always used all strategies compared to participants who never or rarely used them, except for one strategy (rejecting information about COVID-19 from unreliable sources).
Conclusions
Mental health promotion strategies, such as physical activity, relaxation activity, recreational activity, healthy diet, adequate water intake, breaks between work shifts, maintenance of remote social contacts, and verbalization of feelings/emotions, are crucial to reduce nurses' stress, anxiety and depression symptoms during the COVID-19 outbreak."

"A recently published paper by Hickman and colleagues1 provides evidence supporting an idea that has been growing over the past few years in the scientific community: climate anxiety (anxiety relating to the global climate crisis) affects a substantial proportion of children and young people (aged 16–25 years) worldwide. Climate anxiety occurs mainly in lower-income countries located in areas that are more directly affected by climate change. Despite this concerning reality, climate anxiety is not yet considered a mental health disorder. Moreover, little is known about its potential short-term and long-term effects on mental health.2.."