Mental health consequences of COVID-19 in house staff physicians

Abstract

Background: A new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, was associated with a newly identified respiratory syndrome, COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in early December 2019. SARS-CoV-2 rapidly spread across the globe, imposing increased working hours and workloads for healthcare workers. We have evaluated the prevalence of mental health outcomes and associated factors in house staff physicians in Panama. Methods: A cross-sectional study was undertaken from July 23, 2020, to August 13, 2020. Snowball sampling was used to recruit participants. Then, an electronic questionnaire with scales to evaluate anxiety disorders (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9) and post-traumatic stress (IES-R) was administered. In addition, socio-demographic variables, clinical history of mental disorders and COVID-19 exposure were evaluated. Independent analyses for each mental health outcome were undertaken using a logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 517/1,205 (42.9%) interns and residents were recruited nationwide. The overall prevalence of depression symptoms was 25.3%, 13.7% for anxiety and 12.2% for post-traumatic stress. At least 9.3% participants reported having suicidal ideation. The most parsimonious model showed females had a higher prevalence of mental health disorders across results, and married participants were more likely to present depression (OR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.03-2.91; P = 0.039) or at least one mental health disorder (OR, 1.66; 95% CI, 1.03-2.68; P = 0.039). Conclusions: A high prevalence of mental health disorders was found, showing the need to mitigate this emotional burden among healthcare workers in the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Efficacy of a Text-Based Mental Health Coaching App in Improving the Symptoms of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression: Randomized Controlled Trial

“…Their results showed 34.19% to be experiencing moderate to extremely severe depression symptoms, 21.34% with severe anxiety symptoms, and 28.14% with moderate to extremely severe stress symptoms. Other important high-risk groups highlighted in the extant literature include health care workers [ 6 , 7 ] and academics [ 8 - 11 ] .…”

“…Although many studies examine the efficacy of digital mental health interventions among different occupational groups such as university students [ 5 ], health care workers [ 6 , 8 ], physicians [ 7 ], and faculty staffs [ 10 ], very few emphasize the differential impact of these interventions among occupational groups or even between sexes. There is some evidence indicating that females are more likely to use and benefit from digital or web-based mental health interventions as compared with males [ 21 , 22 ]; however, these observations emphasize use rather than efficacy .…”

Psychosocial response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Panama

“…Most research investigating mental health during the pandemic has focused on high-income countries, and there is limited empirical research on COVID-19's psychosocial effects on low and middle-income countries (LMIC), specifically in Latin America (16). For instance, in Panama, the only reported study regarding mental health in healthcare workers, has evidenced a high prevalence of mental health disorders in this population group (17). Panama had one of the strictest lockdown measures in the world (18), which lasted until late 2021 (19).…”