SPIRITUALITY AS A TOOL IN COPING WITH COVID-19

Abstract

COVID-19, in March 2020, was characterized as a pandemic, being a great challenge to the world public health, causing traumatic impacts on the mental health of the population, especially the elderly. Spirituality has presented itself as a relevant tool in the understanding of suffering and in the re-signification of life, especially for those who have adhered to social isolation or have been contaminated by the coronavirus. In this sense, the following question arose: Can spirituality contribute to the confrontation of the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health of the elderly population? Thus, the present study aimed to investigate the contributions of spirituality to the mental health of the elderly in coping with COVID-19. For this, an integrative review was carried out with a qualitative approach during the period from March to September/2021. The articles were selected from the PUBMED, LILACS and Google Academic databases. As a result, 4084 articles were found; however, only 6 articles answered the research question, which became the final sample size. In this study, it was identified that spirituality contributes beneficially to the mental health of the elderly in facing the pandemic of COVID-19, suggesting that it minimizes possible negative impacts on their mental health, such as social isolation, awakening and strengthening feelings of hope, peace, comfort, faith, resilience and well-being, helping in the quality of life of individuals more vulnerable to the coronavirus, during and after the pandemic, in people over 60 years of age. Therefore, this study can direct the planning of actions in mental health, aiming at the application of spirituality as an aid tool in the treatment of COVID-19, mainly in the elderly.