The Psychosocial Impact of Social Isolation at the University of Brasília

The present project deals with the identification of the psychosocial impact on the academic community (students, administrative staff and teachers) at the University of Brasilia (UnB) during the period of social isolation due to the 2019 coronavirus disease pandemic (Covid-19). The first cases of Covid-19 were recorded in China, in the city of Wuhan, in December 2019. The widespread spread in several countries of the world of a new virus, led the World Health Organization (WHO) to decree in March 2020 , a pandemic. Codiv-19 is a severe acute syndrome, characterized by rapid contagion and causes respiratory infections, being more severe in elderly people and with comorbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiorespiratory diseases, among others. The rapid evolution of severe cases generates a significant increase in hospital admissions, the use of intensive care resources and deaths (CRISPIM et al., 2019). In Brazil, in view of the imminent evidence of an epidemic, the Ministry of Health (MS) instituted, in January 2020, the Emergency Operations Center in Public Health (COE-Covid-19), in order to monitor the entry of possible cases of Covid-19 in the country (CRISPIM et al., 2019). Despite all efforts by governmental health entities to contain Covid-19 in Brazilian territory, the spread of the virus reached several cities and states, with the state of São Paulo being the most affected by this disease, with a large number of people contaminated and deaths, which led the government of São Paulo to decree, on March 20, a state of Public Calamity. In the Federal District (DF), in February 2020, this scenario mobilized the creation, by the State Department of Health of the DF, of the Center for Emergency Operations in Public Health (COE-Covid-19-DF), in line with with MS, which aims to prevent the spread of the virus in the Midwest. In parallel, other regional public institutions, such as UnB, created the Coronavirus Health Contingency Plan, an institutional proposal that aims to develop actions to assess the risks and impacts of Covid-19 on the public health of the academic community. The UnB Contingency Plan focuses on the systematization of actions on different fronts, among them the relationship between the incidence of mental suffering and the spread of Covid-19, due to the measure of social isolation as the main form of prevention and containment the spread of the virus. In this sense, it is understood that the entire academic community composed of students, administrative staff and teachers, has been facing major changes in their daily routines and are seeing the need to adapt to the experience of this isolation, which, many times, can evolve into mental suffering. An epidemic, from the point of view of mental health, can generate psychosocial disturbances, such as fear, anxiety, uncertainty, insecurities, disruptions in their lives, which can overcome the population's ability to cope and have psychological distress as a consequence. In this sense, the present proposal aims to identify the psychosocial impacts on the academic community, in an attempt to predict care actions in the psychosocial and occupational spheres, public policies and healthy practices within the University.