Emoções, relações sociais e apoio social no contexto da pandemia de COVID-19

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is considered the health crisis with the greatest biopsychosocial impact in the world. Restrictive social measures applied for long periods of time may have impacted social relationships, the social support network, causing a longer time of experiencing emotions such as anger, sadness and fear. Objective: to assess emotions, social and intergenerational relationships, and social support, in the first phase of social restrictions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. To meet the main objective, two studies were carried out, presented in the format of articles that had the following objectives: article 1: to analyze the factors associated with the feeling of sadness in elderly people during the first phase of social restrictions of COVID-19. Article 2: To analyze the sociodemographic, pandemic scenario and social support factors associated with self-reporting of changes in adult social relationships in the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: article 1: 133 elderly people registered in the Family Health Units in the city of São Carlos-SP participated in the study. Data collection took place by telephone and comprised the assessment of sociodemographic, emotional health and social support aspects in the COVID-19 pandemic. For data analysis, Pearson's chi-square test and binary logistic regression model were used. Article 2: An online study was conducted with 1053 Brazilians ≥ 18 years of age, in which sociodemographic, emotional aspects of the pandemic context, relationships and social support were analyzed. For data analysis, a multinomial regression model was built. Both studies had a cross-sectional design and were approved by the Ethics Committee of the Federal University of São Carlos. Results: article 1: most participants were female, aged between 70 and 79 years, with low education, married and with a single-generational household structure. Of the total, 65 reported the emotion of sadness, and this was associated with a lower level of instrumental social support, maintenance of electronic social contact, and feelings of anguish and fear. Article 2: of the 1053 participants, 566 reported that the pandemic negatively affected social relationships, 203 positively, and for 284 social relationships were not affected. For the three groups, there was a predominance of females, aged between 30 and 59 years, postgraduates, residing in the Southeast region and in big-generation households. They were associated with the self-report of positive changes in social relationships: higher family income, emotional/informational social support and maintenance of social contact through digital means. The factors associated with the self-report of negative changes in social relationships were not living with a partner, a greater number of people in the household and a feeling of social isolation. Conclusion: Article 1: Not receiving instrumental social support, maintaining social contact through digital means, feelings of anguish and fear were factors that were associated with the emotion of sadness. Article 2: The factors of higher family income, not feeling isolated, high perception of emotional/informational social support, were associated with lower chances of positively affecting social relationships, and keeping in touch through digital means increased the chances of affecting social relationships. positively in social relationships. Variables associated with self-reported negative changes in social relationships were: not living with a partner, greater number of people living at home and feeling of loneliness. The results of both studies can be used to develop educational practices focused on emotions, stimulating social relationships and social support, which have considerable impacts on biopsychosocial health.