COVID-19 and the Mental Health of Nursing Professionals in Brazil: Associations between Social and Clinical Contexts and Psychopathological Symptoms.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an important negative psychological impact on people worldwide, especially nursing professionals who seem to be more vulnerable to the development of psychopathological symptoms. Objective: To analyze relationships between variables from the social and clinical contexts with psychopathological symptoms in nursing professionals from different geographic regions of Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out with 1737 nursing professionals from the five regions of Brazil. Data collection was carried out online with a questionnaire made available via Google Forms containing sociodemographic, occupational, and clinical questions, and the Symptom Assessment Scale-40-R, for the assessment of psychopathological symptoms. Differences between mean scores for the severity of psychopathological symptoms were assessed using the Mann-Whitney and Kruskall-Wallis tests. Results: There was a significant difference in the psychoticism domain scores according to Brazilian geographic region, with greater severity among professionals from the North and Northeast regions when compared with those from the South region. Social context variables (gender, age group, and marital status) and clinical variables (psychological and psychiatric follow-up; psychological or emotional support by the institution; family member, friend, neighbor, or co-worker with COVID-19, and death among them; use of psychiatric medication without a medical prescription; and taking steps to take care of their mental health) were significantly related to psychopathological symptoms. Conclusions: The results point to the importance of mental health promotion strategies for professionals through psychological or emotional support, as evidence indicates that this support can be a predictor of reduced psychological distress.

[Alcohol use and spirituality among nursing students]. / Uso de álcool e espiritualidade entre estudantes de enfermagem.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to investigate alcohol use and the levels of spirituality among nursing students. The tests used were the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test and the Spirituality Scale. Participants were 191 (80.2%) nursing undergraduates from a city in the state of Minas Gerais, 75.4% of which were female, average age 25 years, and 149 (78%) were Catholic. As for alcohol use per gender, 117 (75%) women used alcoholic beverages and 33 (56.9%) had a drinking problem (p?0.05), against 25 men (431%). Low scores for spirituality levels were found in the sample: in average, women had lower scores compared to men (12.7 against 13.5). Comparing the level of spirituality with having a drinking problem, it was observed that students with low risk alcohol use had lower levels of spirituality. In conclusion, spirituality may not function as a protecting factor for alcohol use, hence this behavior may be under the control of other variables.