Yoga como intervenção de cuidado em saúde mental: ensaio clínico randomizado com mulheres privadas de liberdade

Abstract

Objective: to identify the prevalence of psychological distress and symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress in women deprived of liberty and to evaluate the effect of an intervention with Yoga on the levels of psychological distress, anxiety, stress and depression of women deprived of liberty. Method: Study carried out in the largest and most populous institution of deprivation of liberty in a state in the Northeast of Brazil. The first part of the research was a cross-sectional study developed with 226 women. In the second part, a randomized clinical trial was conducted with 98 women, 49 of which were allocated to the intervention group (IG) and 49 to the control group (CG) through proportional stratified randomization. A sociodemographic, legal and clinical questionnaire, the Self-Reporting Questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale were used. In the clinical trial, after the initial data collection (T1), the IG received a 13-week intervention with a Yoga practice program. At the end of this moment, the data were collected again (T2) allowing a comparison between the results and visualization of the effects of the practice. The analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics (absolute and relative frequency), the paired Student's t test, the Analysis of Variance and multiple logistic regression. Results: There was a prevalence of positive symptoms for psychological distress, depression, anxiety and stress, the values showed percentages of involvement of 68.1%, 63.2% 61.1% and 62.4%, respectively. The regression analysis also showed that women deprived of liberty who had a positive measure for psychological distress are 3.59 more likely to have self-harm behavior and 8.63 more likely to attempt suicide. In the women in the intervention group, there was a significant reduction in mean values in the symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and psychological distress compared to the control group at the end of the experiment. Conclusion: alarming levels of mental problems were found in the women studied, with the practice of yoga being a possibility of care for this population, since it proved to be effective in reducing symptoms of psychological distress, depression, anxiety and stress in women deprived of freedom in the Brazilian context.