Post-traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Its Predictors Among Healthcare Workers Following COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 causes immense psychological pressure on communities in addition to physical misery. There is currently a scarcity of data on the psychological impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on Ethiopian healthcare workers (HCWs). Therefore, this study was aimed to assess the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and its predictors following COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare workers (HCWs) in southern Ethiopia.Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study design was used among 387 randomly selected HCWs between September 25 and October 25, 2020 at four selected public hospitals in Sidama National Regional State, southern Ethiopia. Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) was used to collect data post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Logistic regression analyses with 95% CI were used to examine the relationship between independent and outcome variables.Result: The prevalence of PTSD symptoms was found in 56.8% of participants. Significant factors that increase risk of PTSD symptoms were being female (AOR = 1.91, 95% CI = 1.19, 3.05), married (AOR = 1.87, 95% CI = 1.12, 3.14) and nurses (AOR = 3.31, 95% CI = 1.66, 6.63). On the other hand, HCWs working other than emergency unit such as inpatients/wards (AOR = 0.43, 95% CI = 0.24, 0.75), OPD (AOR = 0.48, 95% CI = 0.24, 0.97) and other units (AOR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.25, 0.96) less likely to be affected by PTSD symptoms.Conclusion: The current study showed high levels of PTSD symptoms as psychological challenges for HCWs. Sex, age, marital status, type of profession and working environment were significant factors for PTSD symptoms in HCWs during the pandemic. HCWs require mental health support during and after the pandemic.

Post-traumatic stress in healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…209 articles continued to the full text screening stage, of which 119 studies were selected for inclusion in our meta-analysis with a total of 117,143 participants ( Table 1A ). All 119 studies were cross-sectional observational studies ( Agberotimi et al., 2020 ; Alah et al., 2021 ; Ali et al., 2020 , 2022 , 2021 ; Alonso et al., 2021 ; Alshehri and Alghamdi, 2021 ; Asnakew et al., 2021 ; Ayalew et al., 2022 ; Azoulay et al., 2021 ; Bassi et al., 2021 ; Benzakour et al., 2022 ; Bizri et al., 2022 ; Bonzini et al., 2022 ; Bulut et al., 2021 ; Caillet et al., 2020 ; Caliandro et al., 2022 ; Carmassi et al., 2022 , 2021a , 2021b ; Chang et al., 2022 ; Chan et al., 2021 ; Chatzittofis et al., 2021 ; Chaudhary et al., 2021 ; B. Chen et al., 2022 ; Cheng et al., 2020 ; Chen et al., 2021 ; Chew et al., 2020 ; Chowdhury et al., 2021 ; Civantos et al., 2020a , 2020b ; Cortés-Álvarez and Vuelvas-Olmos, 2020 ; Costantini et al., 2022 ; Crowe et al., 2022 ; Demartini et al., 2020 ; Dobson et al., 2021 ; Dykes et al., 2022 ; Ergai et al., 2022 ; Essadek et al., 2022 ; Fattori et al., 2021 ; Geng et al., 2021 ; Gilleen et al., 2021 ; Gorini et al., 2020 ; Guo et al., 2021 ; Hajure et al., 2021 ; Hasanvandi et al., 2022 ; Honarmand et al., 2022 ; Hong et al., 2021 ; Huarcaya-Victoria et al., 2022 ; …”

The psychological impact, risk factors and coping strategies to COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers in the sub-Saharan Africa: a narrative review of existing literature

“…The qualitative study had fifty respondents [ 35 ], while the most significant number of participants, 420 was recorded in one of the quantitative studies from Ethiopia [ 37 ]. The questionnaire response rates varied between 90%-100%, with most studies dominated by male respondents at 51.9%-69.2% [ 38 ]. Nurses were the commonest study population, followed by doctors, pharmacists, and laboratory technicians, and no study involved non-HCWs of facilities.…”

“…Cross-sectional study design minimized selection biases, but many used structured questionnaires, including online self-administered questionnaires, which increased bias due to social desirability. It was not clear how confounding variables were controlled in five papers reviewed [ 38 – 40 , 43 , 45 ] leading to excessive and perhaps inappropriate determination of associations.…”

“…Addis Ababa n = 420 response rate 97. Males 58.6% Frontlines HCPs 70.5% PHQ-9, GAD-7, ISI, IES-R Prevalence: Depression at 20.2%, anxiety at 21.9%, insomnia at 12.4%, and distress at 15.5% Risk factors: Married, frontline workers, exposure to COVID-19 cases, stigma, infected family members, work shift arrangement with longer hours, lack of logistic supports, PPEs & poor or lack of accommodation at the workplace 5 Ayalew, et al [ 38 ] Ethiopia Quantitative study Cross-sectional study design. Self-administered questionnaires Probability sampling, Frontline & Non-frontline HCWs in four Public Hospitals, n = 387, response rate 91.7% Males 58.7%, Southern Ethiopia IES-R Prevalence: PTSD at 56.8% Significant risk factors were age, working environment, professions, female, married, and nurse.…”

Mental Health of Emergency Department Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 in Brooklyn, New York

“…While numerous studies have measured and reported that mental health among HCW was poor during the COVID-19 pandemic, [8][9][10][11][12][13] many of these studies did not use validated measures of mental health, used mental health measures that were inappropriate for the culture or language, or used survey distribution and/or completion methods that may have exacerbated adverse mental health symptoms via causing undue stress on the respondent. 14 Nonetheless, the majority of studies have reported poor mental health among HCW during COVID-19.…”