Alterações no comportamento alimentar e níveis de estresse, ansiedade e depressão em professores universitários durante a pandemia da covid-19

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, social restriction was necessary to control the spread of the virus, which resulted in a change in lifestyle, affecting mental health. It is known that psychological factors, such as depression and anxiety, influence eating behavior and that university professors, in addition to occupational stress, tend to be more susceptible to mental disorders, justifying the importance of further studies on the subject. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the association between eating behavior and anxiety, depression and stress indicators in university professors. This is an epidemiological, descriptive-exploratory, cross-sectional study, which involved 515 university professors. The data collection instrument was built on the Google Forms® platform, through which some questionnaires related to sociodemographic, economic and working and health conditions, physical activity level, eating behavior, psychological disorders were applied (DASS-21) and personality (MR-25), the data were statistically analyzed. Participants with binge eating were 149% more likely to have depression during the pandemic compared to those who did not. Individuals who reported increased food consumption during the pandemic were more than twice as likely to have anxiety, while participants with AC were nearly five times more likely to have anxiety compared to their peers. Participants who reported increased food consumption during the pandemic were nearly three times more likely to experience stress, while participants with AC were four times more likely to experience stress compared to their peers. In addition, previous psychological problems, sleep problems and neuroticism have been shown to be positively associated with depression, anxiety and stress. Given the above, the interconnection between professional occupation, psychological factors and eating disorders, such as binge eating, is evidenced. Finally, it was also possible to observe that professors are in psychological vulnerability during the pandemic period.