Retorno ao trabalho? Indicadores de saúde mental em professores durante a pandemia da COVID-19

Abstract

The aim of this study was to track the mental health indicators of the teachers in a given institution of children and youth education in the south region of Brazil. It is a descriptive study with 84 teachers (80.7 % total), who answered a form via web, made up of three tools: a) social occupational demographic questionnaire; b) the Dass-21 scale; c) mental health symptoms scale related to work (IP-T). The results showed that 82.1% of the participants were worried with the exposure to the new coronavirus, 6.0% informed not being under social distancing, 84.5% showed being aware of the pandemic and 85.7% showed low expectations of returning to work environment. Anxiety (21.7% and 27.6%) and depression (28.9% and 28.5%), both in the Dass-21 and IP-T scale, are the more frequent mental health alterations in teachers. In the association results, the female teachers within the 46 to 56 age group and single, showed more chances to develop anxiety and depression (p<0.05). On the other hand, interacting with people who are under risk situation to catch COVID-19 reduces the chances to manifest anxiety and depression symptoms (p<0.05). In summary, the mental health indicators of the teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic should be tracked to promote the returning to work in a responsible and safe way.