Background: COVID-19 pandemic has triggered psychological stress such as anxiety and depression among people around the globe. Due to the nature of the job, healthcare professionals are at high risk of infection and are facing social stigma as well. In such a scenarios, it has aggravated their mental health and they are applying various measures to cope with such adverse scenario. Therefore, this research is conducted with the objective to evaluate the psychological influence of the COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare professionals of Yemen and the coping strategies adopted thereof.Methods: A web-based, as well as face-to-face cross-sectional study, was carried out from July 2020 to December 2020 among healthcare professionals currently working in different provinces of Yemen using a standard questionnaire. The generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-7), patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Brief-COPE scales were applied for evaluation of anxiety, depression, and the coping strategies among them.Results: A total of 197 healthcare professionals (N=197) participated in the study where the majority were male 68.5% (n=135) in gender and physicians 42.13% (n=83) by profession. The prevalence of both anxiety (6.84±5.67 for male and 7.37±4.44 for female) and depression (8.06±6.51 for male and 9.56±6.46 for female) were found of mild category among the respondents. A significant statistical difference was observed between physician versus nurse regarding anxiety and depression based on the working area (p=0.017). Trained professionals demonstrated less anxiety (6.29±5.33) and depression (7.90±6.78) as compared to untrained ones. Source of stress varied in a different province where high fear of self-health and family members was found more in female (3.90±1.00) and such fear was found more in province Sanaa, Lahij, and Abyan (4.75±0.96), (4.57±1.27) (4.50±2.12) respectively. Religion was indicated as a highly adopted coping strategy meanwhile emotional support was found the least used.Conclusions: COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated the psychological stress among healthcare professionals of Yemen. Our findings illustrate the requirement of efficient policies through administrative, clinical, and welfare perspectives from the regulatory body in preparedness and preventive measures towards such pandemic that aids healthcare professionals to provide service in a stress-free condition and thus better healthcare delivery are assured.
COVID-19, a global pandemic, has threatened the whole world with its devastating nature. Though, initially it has affected the developed countries, the countries in low- and middle-income category also are not spared. Yemen is a country with low-income economy and has been in an ongoing civil war. The first case of COVID-19 was reported on 10th April 2020 and there have been a total of 1619 cases along with 447 total deaths as of 21st July 2020. The preventive measures such as lockdown, social distancing, and personal hygiene are practiced, however there is still lack of adequate resources for efficient healthcare facilities. No drugs and vaccines are approved to fully rely on for the treatment of COVID-19, therefore the concept of “do not take the virus and do not give the virus” with different approaches of preventive aspects through hand-washing, social distancing, wearing masks and gloves, and making people aware in mass utilizing audio-visual media are helpful. Aids from different agencies and collaborative efforts of all the stakeholders are in need for the containment of COVID-19 cases in Yemen. By strengthening and increasing healthcare set-ups and resources, preparation of management guidelines by the government and mobilizing such resources to different parts for awareness, adequate reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests, contact tracing, and safe quarantine and isolation services are essential.
COVID-19 pandemic has triggered psychological stress such as anxiety and depression among people around the globe. Due to the nature of the job, healthcare professionals (HCPs) are at high risk of infection and are facing social stigma as well. This research was conducted with the objective to evaluate the psychological influence of the COVID-19 pandemic among HCPs in Yemen and the coping strategies adopted thereof. A web-based, as well as face-to-face cross-sectional study was carried out from July to December 2021 among HCPs of Yemen. The generalized anxiety disorder (GAD-7), patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), and Brief-COPE scales were applied for the evaluation of anxiety, depression, and coping strategies. A total of 197 HCPs participated in the study where 28.4% and 43.1% had anxiety and depression respectively. The prevalence of both anxiety and depression in the majority were found of the minimal to none and mild categories (71.6% vs. 56.9% respectively). The respondents who had received training on COVID-19 had statistically significant lower GAD-7 scores than those who did not (6.32 vs. 8.02 respectively). A significant statistical difference was observed between physicians versus nurses regarding depression based on the working area (p < 0.05). The physician and pharmacist had a significant positive association with brief COPE scores at the 50th centile compared to other HCPs. The female respondents had statistically significant higher mean Brief COPE scores than male respondents (78.11 vs. 69.50 respectively). Our findings illustrate the requirement for efficient policies through administrative, clinical, and welfare perspectives from the regulatory body in preparedness and preventive measures towards such a pandemic that aids HCPs to provide service in a stress-free condition and assurance of a better healthcare system..
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