Abstract
Abstract Introduction The physical, social and occupational restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the health and well-being of the world population. Objective To identify the repercussions of the pandemic on the occupational participation of students, lecturers and technicians from three public universities in Northern Brazil, to compare the changes reported by participants in occupational participation before and during the pandemic, and to identify symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress self-reported. Method This is a Cross-sectional, descriptive and comparative study with a quantitative approach. One hundred and ninety-nine (n = 199) participants (students, lecturers and technicians) responded to an online questionnaire, the “Occupational Participation Checklist” and the Anxiety, Stress and Depression Scale (DASS-21). Data analysis were descriptive and also performed by applying the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests. Results During the pandemic, an increase in occupational participation was identified for all participants in domestic activities (p <0.001) and a decrease in work and study face to face (p <0.001). Students reported more symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress when compared to lecturers (p<0.001). Most students did not organise their time to fulfil their occupations with satisfaction. Such difficulties were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, especially among the student's group (p<0.001). Conclusion This study provided preliminary evidence about differences in occupational participation before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The organization of time and difficulties in occupational participation were associated to levels of anxiety, depression and stress, especially in the sample of students.
Highlights
The physical, social and occupational restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the health and well-being of the world population
Our findings show that more than a half of students did not manage to organise their time performing, with satisfaction, the work they need to do during the pandemics, while 52.4% of the lecturers and 58.8% of technician informed that they managed to complete their activities during the same period
We only found significant decrease in occupational participation in work from the university office for the group of workers; this result was expected due to the social distancing and social isolation measures imposed by public health and universities local public polices
Summary
The physical, social and occupational restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the health and well-being of the world population. Data on the results of social distancing in Brazil were not found (only data from some states), these measures have shown efficacy in reducing the epidemic curve, enabling time for crucial increases in the capacity of the health-care system, and to develop effective strategies for treatment and prevention (Matrajt & Leung, 2020; Moraes, 2020). These measures required arrangements by the university staff for home office and online teaching since March 2020
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