COVID-19 pandemic decrease men’s mental health: background and consequence analysis

Anderson Reis De Sousa,Emerson Lucas Silva Camargo,Magno Conceição Das Merces,Jules Ramon Brito Teixeira,Aline Macêdo Queiroz,Wanderson Carneiro Moreira,Adailson Vieira Da Silva,Murilo Fernandes Rezende

doi:10.1590/0047-2085000000327

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: To analyze, from the perspective of self-report of antecedents and consequences, how the COVID-19 pandemic decrease the health of men living in Brazil. Methods: Qualitative study, conducted with 200 men living in all regions of Brazil through the application of a semi-structured instrument, hosted on an online platform. The data were analyzed with the Collective Subject Discourse method and anchored in the theoretical framework of Dialectical Historical Materialism. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic decrease men’s mental health because it worsened the history of personal, affective, family, occupational, dysfunctional and/or morbid problems, causing consequences of psychic somatization, family dissolution, end of affective relationship, marital conflicts, social isolation, financial difficulty, vulnerability of the work situation and occupational exhaustion, sudden changes in behavior, barriers in access to health care and impaired experiences of death and grief. Conclusions: Social support networks need to be strengthened in order to minimize the direct and indirect impacts caused by the pandemic materiality for mental health and the various dimensions of life affected.

Highlights

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), which causes the disease known as COVID-19, which emerged in China, is the largest global health problem of this generation[1]
The following research question was elaborated: What are the background and consequence elements of the degradation of mental health of men living in Brazil experiencing the COVID-19 pandemic? To answer this question, this study aims to analyze, from the perspective of self-reported antecedents and consequences, how the COVID-19 pandemic decrease the health of men living in Brazil
A study conducted with men in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the emergence of negative emotions, such as anxiety, apprehension, insecurity, restlessness, instability and fear[4]

Summary

Introduction

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2), which causes the disease known as COVID-19, which emerged in China, is the largest global health problem of this generation[1]. Men and women are prone to SARS-CoV-2 infection; a pattern of predominance of mortality for males has been identified in several countries, and repeated in Brazil, the reasons for this occurrence are not yet fully explained[3]. Added to this context, there is a significant gap in scientific production directed to male health that presents an analysis that goes beyond the dimension of morbidity and mortality and involves the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and practices adopted by men in the health-disease context, as occurs in pandemic moments[4,5]. Regarding the male mental health situation, the findings reveal negative feelings and emotions, increased stress levels and the emergence of somatization, leading the male public to psychic suffering and depressive behavior, deserving greater attention, especially because of the difficulty of the majority of the male public in dealing with and regulating emotions and feelings, self-managing mental health care and employing effective strategies to cope with mental health problems[9]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion