*2.4. Instruments*

An ad hoc questionnaire was designed that included all the variables described. Psychological adjustment was assessed using the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), duly validated for the Portuguese population [22] and used as a screening tool for non-psychotic mental disorders in other pandemic situations [22,23]. This questionnaire consists of 12 items with four response options. If the participant chooses options 1 or 2, then the final score for this item is 0 points; however, if the participant selects options 3 and 4, the score of this item is 1 point. After calculating the total sum of these scores, the final range is between 0 and 12 points.

For the present study, the overall score with reliability estimated by Cronbach's alpha at 0.851 was used as a single factor. The cut-off point for the general population was 3, where subjects with scores greater than or equal to 3 were considered more likely to develop psychiatric morbidity [24,25].
