Mental health assessment of the Brazilian LGBTQIAP+ population during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study.
Thayane Martins Dornelles, Emerson Silveira de Brito, Ben Hur Graboski Pinheiro and 3 others
PMID 37695607WHAT IT FOUND
60.2% of 655 Brazilian LGBTQIAP+ adults screened positive for non-psychotic mental symptoms during pandemic restrictions.
Younger age, public health service access, and medical conditions were linked to more anxiety and mental symptoms.
Key findings
01394 of 655 participants (60.2%) screened positive for non-psychotic mental disorders on SRQ-20.
02In the adjusted model, participants under 30 had higher risk of anxiety symptoms on GAD-7 (PR 1.33, 95% CI 1.17–1.52).
03In the adjusted model, higher risk of non-psychotic mental disorders was found in lower age groups (PR 1.49, 95% CI 1.32–1.63), public health service access (PR 1.08, 95% CI 1.01–1.16), and at least one medical condition (PR 1.26, 95% CI 1.16–1.37).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The sample was recruited online through social media and snowballing, so it may overrepresent people with internet access, higher education, and private health services. The study is cross-sectional, so it cannot show that age, sexual orientation, health service access, religion, or medical conditions caused mental symptoms. It did not measure mental health before the pandemic, so it cannot separate pandemic effects from pre-existing disparities. GAD-7 and SRQ-20 are screening tools, not clinical diagnoses. Participants were mostly cisgender, white, highly educated, and from the Brazilian South, limiting generalisation to all Brazilian LGBTQIAP+ adults.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the 60.2% positive screening rate as a diagnosis or as a representative estimate for all Brazilian LGBTQIAP+ adults. The participants were a convenience sample recruited online, many were highly educated and used private health services, and the scales only screen for symptoms.