Depression, anxiety, stress, and social support: a cross-sectional study with caregivers of visually impaired children in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - Views-QoL Study

We aimed to identify the reports of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress among caregivers of children without visual impairment, with low vision, and with blindness and their relationship with the degree of social, emotional, material, and affective support. This cross-sectional and mul-ticenter study was conducted in the municipal-ity of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 2019 to 2020. A questionnaire was applied to obtain caregivers' sociodemographic and economic data. The Medi-cal Outcomes Study Social Support Scale (MOS-SSS) and The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) were used. Tests were used for multiple comparisons of these scales. The prevalence ratio of symptoms of depression, anxi-ety, and stress was estimated. Of all caregivers (N = 355), more than 90% were women-mothers. Caregivers of children with visual impairment show the highest proportion of no schooling, in-complete elementary education, or lower average monthly income. Most caregivers of children with blindness reported symptoms of depression, anxi-ety, and stress (66.7%, 73.3%, and 80%, respective-ly) as did those of children with low vision. The evaluation of the relationship between MOS-SSS and DASS-21 results shows greater support and lower scores of reports of depression, anxiety, and stress for caregivers of children without disabilities or with less visual impairment. For caregivers of blind children, the highest prevalence of such re-ports was independent of the received support. Re-sults indicate the need for a care policy with mech-anisms to protect the mental health of caregivers of visually impaired children.