MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIAL SUPPORT IN PATIENTS DIAGNOSED WITH COVID-19 IN A FIRST-LEVEL HEALTH CARE CENTER IN LIMA-PERU

The coronavirus disease is an unprecedented threat that affects more than 2,800,000 people around the world. In Peru, there are 350,000 positive cases and 12,998 deaths. The reported symptoms of COVID-19 are primarily respiratory, however, reports of psychological symptoms affecting people's mental health are emerging. In this context, the lack of adequate mental health educational preparation of health professionals has been identified as a significant barrier to meeting the health care needs of mental health patients. To do this, it is necessary to generate evidence to support the teaching content in educational programs for health teams, which are in the first line in the fight against COVID-19. Mental health is essential to the general well-being of an individual and absolutely essential to a productive and efficient life. Social support is the perception or experience of individuals regarding to getting involved in a social group where people support each other. Although a considerable number of researchers have found the relationship between mental health and social support in various pathologies, there are still few studies carried out in patients with COVID-19. Therefore, the objective of the study is to determine the relationship between mental health and social support in patients with COVID-19. The approach was a quantitative, cross-correlational design. The population consisted of 78 patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 treated in a first level care center located in Lima-Peru. The instruments used were the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to assess mental health and the Medical Outcomes Study (MOS) questionnaire to assess social support. The results show that the average age was 44.74 years, 60.3% (n = 47) were men. The 57.7% (n = 45) had a completed secondary education. The average time from diagnosis to care was 3.31 days. 37.2% (n = 29) had contact with a positive case. The diagnostic method of 88.5% (n = 69) was the rapid test and 11.5% (n = 9) was the molecular test. Regarding mental health, it was found that 56.4% (n = 44) did not present psychopathology, 21.8% (n = 17) had suspected psychopathology and 21.8% (n = 17) had indicative of psychopathology. The dimension most affected was anxiety/depression with 20.5% (n = 16) indicative of psychopathology, while the dimension loss of confidence obtained the highest percentage 56.4% (n = 44) of absence of psychopathology. In social support, 38.4% (n = 30) were medium, 37.2% (n = 29) were low, and 24.4% (n = 19) were high. The affective support and positive social interaction support dimensions obtained the highest percentages with 17.9% (n = 14) of high support, while the instrumental support dimension was the most affected with 21.8% (n = 17) low support. The correlational analysis obtained a Pearson Chi-square value of 11.643 (p = 0.02), so there is a significant statistical relationship between both variables. The results serve as a contribution to the thematic content of educational programs for health teams in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing the development of a comprehensive approach to patients with COVID 19, in which the scope of individual management is transferred to focusing on their environment as one of the factors that could help improve the impact on the mental health of the patient.