Prevalence and determinant factors of mental health problems among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 pandemic in southern Ethiopia: multicentre cross-sectional study

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess the prevalence of depression, anxiety and stress and its determinant factors during COVID-19 pandemic among healthcare professionals in southern Ethiopia.DesignMulti-centre cross-sectional study.Setting and study periodRandomly selected public hospitals in Sidama, southern Ethiopia between 25 September 2020 and 25 October 2020.Participants387 healthcare professionals were randomly selected.Outcome measuresPrevalence and determinant factors of depression, anxiety and stress was assessed.ResultDepression, anxiety and stress prevalence were shown to be 50.1% (95% confidence interval (CI) 45.0% to 55.0%), 55.0% (95% CI 51.1% to 59.9%) and 38.5% (95% CI 33.6% to 43.2%), respectively. Being female (adjusted odd ratio (AOR) 3.71, 95% CI 2.31 to 5.97), married (AOR 2.28, 95% CI 1.34 to 3.86), living alone (AOR 1.87, 95% CI 1.09 to 3.20), nurses (AOR 2.94, 95% CI 1.44 to 5.99) and working in inpatients (AOR 0.53, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.93) were significantly associated with depressive symptoms. Moreover, older age groups (AOR 3.15, 95% CI 1.04 to 6.56), females (AOR 3.25, 95% CI 2.01 to 5.25), married (AOR 1.69, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.87) and nurses (AOR 3.32, 95% CI 1.63 to 6.78) were significantly associated with symptoms of anxiety. Stress symptoms were significantly high among females (AOR 2.47, 95% CI 1.53 to 3.97), married (AOR 2.77, 95% CI 1.60 to 4.78), living alone (AOR 2.01, 95% CI 1.15 to 3.52), nurses (AOR 2.34, 95% CI 1.11 to 4.92) and working in units other than emergency (inpatient (AOR 0.32, 95% CI 0.18 to 0.57) and other units (AOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.95)).ConclusionThe current study found that healthcare professionals have high levels of depression, anxiety and stress symptoms. Sex, age, marital status, type of profession, living status and working environment were significant factors for mental health problems in healthcare professionals during the pandemic. Healthcare professionals require mental health support at which monitoring and control can be performed during and after the pandemic.

The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers in sub-Saharan Africa. A narrative review of existing literature.

“…Most studies reviewed directly assessed the prevalence of depression, anxiety, Stress, insomnia, and PTSD in HCWs. Common causes of anxiety, fear, or psychological distress that health professionals reported were: lack of access to PPEs and other equipment, being exposed to COVID-19 at work and taking the infection home to their families, uncertainties that their organization will support/take care of their personal and family needs if they developed an infection, long working hours, death of colleagues, lack of social support, stigmatization, high rates of transmission and poor income [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. The prevalence of mental health symptoms exhibited great variations.…”

The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers in the sub-Saharan Africa: A narrative review of existing literature

“…Most of the studies reviewed directly assessed the prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, and PTSD on HCWs. Common causes of anxiety, fear or psychological distress that health professionals reported were: lack of access to PPEs and other equipment, being exposed to COVID-19 at work, and taking the infection home to their families, uncertainties that their organisation will support/take care of their personal and family needs if they developed infection, long working hours, death of colleagues, lack of social support, stigmatization, high rates of transmission and poor income [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. The prevalence of mental health symptoms exhibited great variations.…”

“…Another nine studies reported the prevalence of anxiety symptoms among HCWs [34, 35,36,39,[42][43][44][45], the prevalence was found to vary from 21.9%-73.5% [36,39]. Five studies investigated HCWs' perceived stress during the pandemic, between 15.5%-63.7% of HCWs reported high levels of work-related stress [34, 35,36,42,44].…”

“…Factors that increased the risk of PTSD symptoms were working in emergency units. Studies found that frontline HCWs had increased symptoms of mental disorders and that being a frontline worker was an independent risk factor for depression, anxiety, and PTSD [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45].…”

“…3.10 Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs): Most of the studies reported that the lack of PPEs was associated with higher symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia, while the availability of standardized PPEs was associated with less mental disorder symptoms [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. In Mali workers from centres which provided facemasks were 51% less likely to suffer from depression; were 62% less likely to develop anxiety and were 45% less likely to develop insomnia [39].…”