Percepção de Estresse em Tempos de Pandemia COVID-19

Abstract

ntroduction: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted the mental health of the population. Objective: We aimed to analyze the perceived stress levels and the peritraumatic stress index in two diff erent samples with Portuguese nationality, one residing in Portugal (study 1) and the other living abroad (study 2). We also verifi ed the eff ect of gender and place of residence in these two samples for the two stress indicators. Method: Data collection took place from May 6th to June 8th. A snowball sampling method was applied to recruit participants. A web-based survey was developed to collect sociodemographic information and data on the perceived stress scale (PSS-10) and COVID-19 peritraumatic distress index (CPDI). The population living in Portugal include 369 subjects, and the population living abroad was 44 subjects. Results: From study 1, 43% of the sample manifested high levels of perceived stress, and 46.3% severe psychological distress, resulting from COVID-19 (peritraumatic stress). In study 2, the results showed that 50% of the subjects had high levels of perceived stress, and 50% had severe psychological distress because of the most recent pandemic. Residents in Portugal showed higher values in all measures studied; female gender also showed higher values in the 2 studies, in all measures. Conclusion: The fi ndings of this study suggest that the pandemic situation caused psychological distress in the Portuguese people. Therefore, we hope that this study can help develop intervention strategies to reduce psychological distress and prevent future vulnerabilities in the mental health of the Portuguese population.Keywords:Stress, pandemic, mental health, COVID-19