Stress, Anxiety, and Depression Levels Among Healthcare Staff During the COVID-19 Epidemic

Abstract

In the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, medical staff Are in direct contact with the patients and experience high work pressure. Direct contact with the patients could create some psychological problems in this group. Thus, the prevalence of such problems must be investigated in them. The present study aimed to determine the level of stress, anxiety, and depression among the healthcare staff in Zanjan City, Iran, during the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods: This descriptive study has a cross-sectional design. The Sample of the study population consisted of 535 Staff healthcare members of Vali-e-Asr Hospital in Zanjan City, Iran. A sample of 200 of medical staff was randomly selected to participate in the present study. The required data were collected using the electronic version of Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS) tool. Descriptive statistics, as well as the inferential statistics (the Pearson correlation coefficient, Spearman correlation coefficient, Phi, and Cramer's correlation tests), were used to analyze the obtained data in SPSS. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 40.60 years. The mean values of depression, anxiety, and stress in study samples were 6.27, 5.38, and 8.41, respectively. There was a significant relation between gender and variables of depression, anxiety, and stress. There was also an inverse relationship between stress and variables of educational level and age (P<0/05). Conclusion: We found that our sample reported a normal degree of Depression, anxiety, and stress. The extent of stress induced by direct contact with patients was higher in female employees. Furthermore, with the increase in the education and age of the employees, their stress level decreased.

Sources of Health Anxiety for Hospital Staff Working during the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…The pattern of findings suggested that health anxiety was the complex result of personal concerns [ 5 ], contact with close acquaintances infected with COVID-19 [ 5 ], and working on the frontline [ 13 , 17 ], while age, educational background, and gender were unrelated. Such lack of effects have been reported previously [ 14 ], though for age [ 5 , 15 ], educational background [ 5 , 15 ], and gender [ 15 , 16 ], opposite findings have also been reported.…”

“…As regards the psychological health of Iranian hospital staff members, higher scores for job-related stress and burnout were related to working on the frontline [ 13 ], irrespective of age, job experience, or the social support of friend and families [ 14 ]. In contrast, among frontline nurses with an average age of 40.6, higher age, higher educational degrees, and being male predicted lower stress [ 15 , 16 ]. A higher task load was associated with lower general health [ 16 ].…”

Factors Associated With Psychological Distress in Health-Care Workers During an Infectious Disease Outbreak: A Rapid Systematic Review of the Evidence

“…In a study during the H1N1 outbreak, hospital staff who were in their 20's had greater anxiety about becoming infected than did older staff ( 103 ). During COVID-19, HCW who were younger were more likely to experience higher levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, and acute stress compared to older HCW ( 23 , 26 – 28 , 30 , 32 , 42 , 49 , 54 , 55 , 57 , 61 , 65 , 71 , 75 , 78 , 89 , 90 , 117 , 118 , 121 , 123 , 127 , 131 , 149 , 153 , 154 ). In contrast, eight studies conducted during COVID found that HCW who were older were at greater risk of experiencing higher levels of psychological distress ( 40 , 66 , 86 , 95 , 102 , 114 , 122 , 132 ).…”

Variables relacionadas al estrés percibido durante el aislamiento por COVID-19 en Argentina

“…No obstante, observamos asociaciones particulares entre algunas variables, concretamente en el período 2 las personas que habían terminado la secundaria o la universidad percibieron mayor estrés. Nuestros resultados no se encuentran en línea con lo observado en el modelo general y lo hallado en estudios previos (e.g., Hosseinzadeh-Shanjani et al, 2020;Matus et al, 2020;Odriozola-González et al, 2020), aunque están en concordancia con lo observado por otras investigaciones (e.g., Marquina Lujan, 2020; Song et al, 2020). Una posible explicación a este resultado podría deberse a lo expresado por .…”

“…Otras investigaciones reportaron que el nivel de estrés percibido durante la pandemia varía según el nivel educativo de las personas. Ahora bien, los resultados encontrados son contradictorios ya que en algunas investigaciones se observó que un menor nivel de instrucción se asocia a mayores niveles de estrés (e.g., Hosseinzadeh-Shanjani et al, 2020;Matus et al, 2020;Odriozola-González et al, 2020) en tanto que en otras se halló lo opuesto (p.e., Marquina Lujan, 2020; Song et al 2020).…”