EVALUACIÓN DEL ESTADO MENTAL DE PACIENTES GERIÁTRICOS DEL HOGAR CORAZÓN DE JESÚS POSTERIOR A LA PANDEMIA DE COVID- 19.

Abstract

The sudden appearance of the coronavirus causing the COVID-19 pandemic in December 2019 unleashed in the general population fear of developing the disease, of dying, and as well as new biosecurity measures such as the need for social distancing and isolation never seen on a global scale affected the mental health of those most vulnerable, the elderly. These drastic changes led to the development of symptoms of anxiety, depression and loneliness. The main objective of this research is to evaluate the mental health status of geriatric patients of the Hogar Corazón de Jesús located in the city of Guayaquil, as well to determinate the sociodemographic variables and their main characteristics after the COVID-19 pandemic in the year 2021. This study has a descriptive cross-sectional design with a qualitative and quantitative approach, on the other hand, for data collection a questionnaire was applied to 174 geriatric patients using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). The results indicate that older adults with depressive symptoms are mostly women, widowed, between 71- 75 years of age and with an average level of education. This study shows that, in the presence of depression in the elderly, measures of social control, health and psychosocial support should be implemented in order to minimize its impact on the geriatric population.