Mental health and community program for people over 60 years

Abstract

Introduction: The programs that develop actions focused on the health of the older adult in their integrality, provide improvements in aspects of quality of life (physical, functional, social, emotional). With the spread of an acute respiratory infection caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19), internationally eligible as "severe" and highly transmissible, there was an extensive period of incarceration at home by the majority of the population, here, in this case, Brazilian, resulting in a large part of the older adult population emotional, social sequelae and declines in functional capacity. Among them, we can highlight anxiety and depression, psychopathological symptoms that are related as risk factors for quality of life affecting the performance of their daily activities. Objective: To compare, through the Geriatric Depression Scale GDS-15 and GDS-5 and the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI), possible changes in psychopathological parameters in older people after 3 months of participation in the activities developed in the “Living Better” project. Methods: In this section 35 participants of the Better Living Project, carried out at the Community Health Center - CSC, Deise de Fátima Araújo de Paula, health unit of the City Hall of Palmas (TO), answered the questionnaires GAI and GDS-15 and GDS-5 at the beginning and after 3 months of activities offered (stretching, memorization, lectures). Descriptive statistics, normality test (Shapiro-Wilk), and T-student test for dependent samples were performed using the Jamovi 2.2 software. We adopted a significance level of p ≤ 0.05 for all variables. Results: There were no data related to depression during pre and post-collections (GDS-15 and GDS-5). When comparing the pre-and post-GAI data, one observed that there was a reduction in anxiety parameters, statistically significant according to p= 0.0471 in an interval of 3 months of participation in the activities offered by the project. Conclusion: It is perceived the need for a more cautious look at the older population, which was highlighted to the increase in anxiety symptoms presented by the research participants, pointing to the participation in physical and social exercise programs as fundamental factors for the maintenance of integral health.