Psychological Symptoms in Health Professionals in Spain After the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Following the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic in March 2020, a state of alarm was decreed in Spain. In this situation, healthcare workers experienced high levels of stress, anxiety and depression due to the heavy workload and working conditions. Although Spain experienced a progressive decline in the number of COVID-19 cases until the last week of May (when a flattening of the case curve was achieved) and the work overload among health workers was substantially reduced, several studies have shown that this work overload is associated with the later emergence of psychological symptoms induced by stress. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of stress, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and compassionate fatigue in health professionals. The sample consisted of 973 health professionals 16.5% men, 82.9% women, and one non-binary person. The data were collected through an online questionnaire sent to the participants by e-mail. DASS-21 was used to measure anxiety, stress and depression, PCL-C to measure post-traumatic stress and ProQOL -vIV to measure compassion fatigue. In addition, other descriptive variables that could be related to these levels of psychological symptomatology were evaluated. The results reveal that after the work overload experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers report psychological symptoms, post-traumatic stress and compassion fatigue. It is therefore recommended that these professionals be provided with psychological help in order to reduce the emotional impact of COVID-19, and consequently improve their mental health.

Association Between Perceived Stress and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Among Medical Staff During the COVID-19 Epidemic in Wuhan City

“…The reason for this result may be that previous studies observed high levels of compassion in a large proportion of frontline medical staff who participated in the rescue. One study suggested that when medical staff believed in their causes, such as rescuing patients with COVID-19 and saving lives, such positive beliefs and thoughts may have provided them with a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, which, in turn, eased their fears and provided protection from stressful events that may result in PTSD symptoms ( 68 ). Thus, the goal of compassion fatigue research is to help caregivers to build strong psychological resilience to enrich their internal resources, so they can quickly recover from traumatic experiences and maintain efficient and high function work performances ( 62 ).…”

Impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic on healthcare workers: systematic comparison between nurses and medical doctors

“…Overall stress levels in HCWs increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than 40% of HCWs suffering from moderate-to-extreme levels of stress [ 11 ▪ ]. HCW have reported that their increased stress was associated with an inability to disconnect from work, heightened irritability and increased fear of infecting one's family.…”

“…A more detailed overview of all investigated outcome measures can be found in Table 1 [ 3 , 8 ▪ , 10 , 11 ▪ , 12 ▪ , 13 , 14 ▪ , 15 – 20 , 21 ▪ , 22 ▪ , 23 , 24 , 25 ▪ , 26 , 27 , 28 ▪ , 29 ▪ , 30 , 31 – 34 ].…”

Stress, Burnout, and Resilience among Healthcare Workers during the COVID-19 Emergency: The Role of Defense Mechanisms

“…In a large sample of 1,257 health care professionals, Lai and colleagues [ 30 ] found that symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress were reported by 50.4%, 44.6%, 34.0%, and 71.5% of participants, respectively. Higher levels of psychological distress were found in nurses and technicians than in physicians, whereas burnout, defined as a syndrome of emotional exhaustion, cynicism, depersonalization, and perceived inefficacy resulting from long-term job stress that can occur among individuals who work with people in some capacity [ 31 ], was higher in doctors than in nurses and technicians [ 32 , 33 , 34 ]. Conversely, clear communication from the organization, social support, personal sense of control, and emotional regulation were found as protective factors against psychological distress in healthcare professionals [ 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 ].…”