Resumen de Changes in occupational roles and common mental disorders in mothers of children with congenital Zika syndrome

Monique Carla da Silva Reis, Aline Carla Araújo Carvalho, Carolina Santos Souza Tavares, Victor Santana Santos, Hudson P. Jr. Santos, Paulo R. Martins Filho

• Importance: The functional limitations and long-term dependence of children with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) may lead to changes in maternal occupational roles, which can have a negative impact on mothers’ well-being and mental health.

  Objective: To investigate changes in occupational roles and their effects on the mental health of mothers who have a child with CZS.

  Design: Cross-sectional study.

  Setting: Rehabilitation centers of the Brazilian Unified Health System in Alagoas, Northeast Brazil.

  Participants: Forty mothers of children with CZS.

  Outcomes and Measures: The Role Checklist and the Self-Reporting Questionnaire–20 were used to assess the mothers’ involvement in occupational roles and common mental disorders (CMDs), respectively. The relationship between changes in occupational roles and CMDs was analyzed using a logistic regression model.

  Results: Our study showed that loss of paid work (p = .026) is associated with poor mental health of mothers of children with CZS.

  Conclusions and Relevance: Strengthening public policies to reduce the economic impact of CZS on families, offering multidisciplinary counseling, and implementing psychoeducational strategies for promoting maternal psychological adjustment are needed.

  What This Article Adds: The time and money spent by mothers in daily care activities for children with CZS contribute to a reduction in family income and social well-being and have a negative impact on mothers’ mental health.