Abstract

FERREIRA, Heloísa Gonçalves. Relations between beliefs, attitudes and mental health in elderly people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rev. Psicol. Saúde [online]. 2021, vol.13, n.1, pp. 187-201. ISSN 2177-093X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.20435/pssa.v13i1.1381.

Research problem: Elderly's mental health is at risk during covid-19 pandemic. Sample's characteristics: 384 elderly people who are Internet users. Instruments: questionnaire to access sociodemographic data and beliefs/attitudes about covid-19, PHQ-2 to evaluate depression, UCLA-BR short version to evaluate loneliness, Social Support Scale, and the Brief Resilience Scale. Procedure: participants answered an online survey in order to investigate frequencies and relations between mental health indicators and beliefs/attitudes about covid-19. Results: 15.1% showed positive screening for depression. Self-confidence for home isolation showed significant relations with lower frequency of leaving the house and better mental health. Worse mental health was associated to a stronger perception of covid-19 threat for health. Discussion: Self-confidence for home isolation and beliefs regarding covid-19 severity and vulnerability might be relevant psychological components to be target in interventions to ensure greater adherence to home isolation and better mental health.

Keywords : elderly; depression; resilience; social isolation; coronavirus.

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