Banca de DEFESA: FABIANA DE SOUZA SANTOS

Uma banca de DEFESA de MESTRADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : FABIANA DE SOUZA SANTOS
DATE: 27/09/2023
TIME: 14:00
LOCAL: https://conferenciaweb.rnp.br/webconf/monica-leila-portela-de-santana
TITLE:

Psychological distress and perception of weight change in the COVID-19 pandemic: a study with Brazilian university students.

KEY WORDS:

Anxiety; Depression; stress, psychological; body weight

PAGES: 98
BIG AREA: Ciências da Saúde
AREA: Nutrição
SUBÁREA: Análise Nutricional de População
SUMMARY:

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing, together with the suspension of face-to-face classes with remote teaching, favored the occurrence of psychological distress among university students. In addition, symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress have been associated with weight change during the pandemic. Objective: To evaluate the association between symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress with the perception of weight change in university students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Cross-sectional study based on baseline data from the Online Cohort on Eating Behavior and Health (COCASa). The information was collected through an online questionnaire applied to Brazilian university students between July and August 2020. The questionnaire included demographic and socioeconomic information, isolation time, educational institution, undergraduate course, perception of weight variation, and psychological suffering. For the assessment of psychological distress, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) was adopted. Descriptive analyses and Pearson's chi-square test were performed. Associations were tested using Poisson regression to estimate the Prevalence Ratio (PR). Statistical analysis was performed using the R software. Results: A total of 2875 university students participated in the study, of which 76.1% were female and 55.4% reported a perception of weight gain. After adjustment for age, gender, race/skin color, income, isolation time, symptoms of depression [moderate (PR=1.16; 95%CI 1.06; 1.26) and severe (PR=1.20; 95%CI 1.12; 2.29)]; anxiety [moderate (PR= 1.12; 95%CI 1.02; 1.22) and severe (PR= 1.18; 95%CI 1.09; 1.27)]; stress [moderate (PR= 1.13; 95%CI 1.03;1.24) and severe (PR= 1.21; 95%CI 1.12; 1.29)] were positively associated with the perception of weight loss. With regard to weight gain, a positive association was observed only for severe anxiety symptoms (PR= 1.24; 95%CI: 1.04 - 1.48). Conclusion: During the pandemic, psychological distress was associated with the perception of weight change among college students. It should be noted that these results are essential to contribute to public policy strategies that help promote mental health and body weight perception among university students.

 

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Interna - 1194475 - MONICA LEILA PORTELA DE SANTANA
Externa à Instituição - RENATA ALVES MONTEIRO - UnB
Externa à Instituição - LUCIANA GONÇALVES DE ORANGE - UFPE