Repercussão do distanciamento físico no estilo de vida das crianças pré-escolares em Fortaleza-Ceará

Abstract

In 2020 began one of the world's largest pandemics, caused by COVID-19 occurring modifications in the routine of preschoolers. This study aimed to analyze the lifestyle of preschoolers during the period of physical distance. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional research, carried out in the city of Fortaleza-Ceará, using a questionnaire produced in Google Forms and filled out online, during the physical distance decree period, in the month of August 2020. The sample selection happened by convenience, where a questionnaire was forwarded in WhatsApp groups of parents from the public and private education network, according to the Snowball model. The questionnaire used the following instruments: Questionnaires of Eating Behavior in Children (CEBQ), Time Playing Games, Outdoor Play, Children's Sleeping Habits (CSHQ-PT) and PenSe (IBGE). Statistical tests were used, with the aid of STATA SE 14.0 software. A total of 286 caregivers and their children participated in the study, of which 53.8% were female. 83.9% of the mothers had complete college education. 44.4% of the participants lived with up to 4 people. 73.1% of the people responsible for the research had 1 child. The participating children were 15 (5.2%) from Infant I, 28 (9.8%) Infant II, 42 (14.7%) Infant III, 59 (20.6%) Infant IV, 66 (23.1%) Infant V, 44 (15.4%) 1 year of elementary school and 11.2% did not attend school. In the CEBQ analysis the highest mean values are present in the dimension "Pleasure in eating" (EF) (3.25) and "Response to satiety" (SR) (3.12), while the lowest refer to the dimensions "Emotional overeating" (EOE) (2.1) and "Response to food" (FR) (2.45). It found that the tendency of the group, preschool children, is food avoidance behavior with mean values (2.9) higher than food attraction behavior (2.53). Analyzing the results of the Games, Outdoor Play questionnaire it was found that children of mothers who had complete higher education spent less time on television during the week (3.49 ± 2.95) when compared to mothers who did not have complete higher education (4.47 ± 3.56) (p = 0.0458). Considering the gender of the child, it is important to highlight that, during the weekend, the time spent playing games by female children was higher than that of male children (p = 0.0265), and children enrolled in school had a worse average (9.53 ± 2.31) in this item than those not enrolled in the weekend (8.01 ± 3.56) (p = 0.0194). The present research indicated that children with no attachment to school seem to be more active (p = 0.0323). However, they also watch more television when compared to children who attend school (p = 0.0001). The CSHQ-PT analysis showed that mother's education (incomplete higher education level) (p = 0.043), attendance in virtual classes (p=0.05), child's age (older) (p = 0.05) were shown as driving factors for worsening sleep quality. Sleep resistance was the subscale that suffered the greatest impact (11.32) and the sleep disturbance index (49.19) was found to exceed the cutoff point (48). It is concluded that the physical distance influenced the increase in food avoidance behavior, reduced active time and changes in sleep patterns of preschool children, being necessary to trace strategies in the school and home environment that stimulate the improvement of eating behavior, increased physical activity, reduced screen time and guidance to improve sleep patterns.