The prevalence of common mental disorders among healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic at a tertiary Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has resulted in unprecedented morbidity, mortality, and health system crisis leading to a significant psychological destress on healthcare workers (HCWs). The study aimed to determine the prevalence of symptoms of common mental disorders among HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic at St. Paul's Hospital, Ethiopia. Methods A self-administered cross-sectional study was conducted to collect socio-demographic information and symptoms of mental disorders using validated measurement tools. Accordingly, PHQ-9, GAD-7, ISI, and IES-R were used to assess the presence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and distress, respectively. Chi-square test, non-parametric, and logistic regression analysis were used to detect risk factors for common mental disorders. Results A total of 420 healthcare workers participated in the survey. The prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, and psychological distress was 20.2%, 21.9%, 12.4%, and 15.5% respectively. Frontline HCWs had higher scores of mental health symptoms than non-frontline healthcare workers. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that being married was associated with a high level of depression. Furthermore, working in a frontline position was an independent risk factor associated with a high-level of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. Limitations It is a single-center cross-sectional study and the findings may not be nationally representative or reveal causality. Conclusions A significant proportion of healthcare workers are suffering from symptoms of mental disorders. Frontline HCWs were at a greater risk of severe symptoms. Therefore, psychological interventions should be implemented to support health professionals, especially frontline workers.

Prevalence and predictors of depression, anxiety and stress among frontline healthcare workers at COVID-19 isolation sites in Gaborone, Botswana

“…Our findings fall within the ranges of the African systematic review. A cross sectional study in Ethiopia showed similar results to our study with a prevalence of 20.2%, 21.9% and 15.5% for depression, anxiety and stress respectively [ 15 ]. Conversely, another study in Ethiopia had a slightly higher prevalence of stress of 31.4% while the prevalence of depression and anxiety were 25.8% and 36% respectively [ 16 ].…”

“…This scale was divided into normal (0-9), mild depression (10-13), moderate depression (14-20), severe depression (21-27) and extremely severe depression (>28). The anxiety subscale is made of questions 2,4,7,9,15,19,20,23,25,28,30,36,40 and 41. The scale was divided into normal (0-7), mild anxiety (8-9), moderate anxiety (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), severe anxiety (15)(16)(17)(18)(19) and extremely severe anxiety (>20).…”

“…The anxiety subscale is made of questions 2,4,7,9,15,19,20,23,25,28,30,36,40 and 41. The scale was divided into normal (0-7), mild anxiety (8-9), moderate anxiety (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), severe anxiety (15)(16)(17)(18)(19) and extremely severe anxiety (>20). The rest of the questions make up the stress subscale.…”

“…The rest of the questions make up the stress subscale. The scale was divided into normal (0-14), mild stress (15)(16)(17)(18), moderate stress (19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25), Severe stress (26-33) and extremely severe stress (>34).…”

The impact of COVID‐19 on the mental health workforce: A rapid review

“…For healthcare workers broadly, the psychological impacts of COVID‐19 include insomnia, anxiety, somatisation, depression, obsessive–compulsive symptoms and psychological distress (Mulatu et al . 2021 ; Zhang et al . 2020 ).…”