Occupational participation, stress, anxiety and depression in workers and students from Brazilian universities during the COVID-19 pandemic

Resumen

Introduction: The physical, social and occupational restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected the health and well-being of the world population. Objective: To identify the repercussions of the pandemic on the occupational participation of students, lecturers and technicians from three public
universities in Northern Brazil, to compare the changes reported by participants in occupational participation before and during the pandemic, and to identify symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress self-reported. Method: This is a Crosssectional, descriptive and comparative study with a quantitative approach. One hundred and ninety-nine (n = 199) participants (students, lecturers and technicians) responded to an online questionnaire, the “Occupational Participation Checklist” and the Anxiety, Stress and Depression Scale (DASS-21). Data analysis were descriptive and also performed by applying the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests. Results: During the pandemic, an increase in occupational participation was identified for all participants in domestic activities (p <0.001) and a decrease in work and study face to face (p <0.001). Students reported more symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress when compared to lecturers (p<0.001). Most students did not organise their time to fulfil their occupations with satisfaction. Such difficulties were associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress, especially among the student's group (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study provided preliminary evidence about differences in occupational participation before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. The organization of time and difficulties in occupational participation were associated to levels of anxiety, depression and stress, especially in the sample of students.