The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of health care workers

Abstract

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 on professional (HCWs) health care workers' mental health and the prevalence of depression, anxiety, fear and stress related to their workload. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional survey including 1,554 male and female participants aged 20-65 years in Turkey who completed the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21), Burnout and Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S). Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between two groups defined as HCWs-frontline and non-frontline, in the following characteristics: (P=0.013), gender (P<0.001), education (P<0.001), occupational status (P<.001), income (P=0.003), working-years experience (P<0.001), number hospital rooms assigned (P=0.024), number of persons living with (P=0.024), and smoking habits (P=0.018). The findings showed that the prevalence of depression anxiety and stress was significantly higher among the frontline workers when compared to non-frontline ones (all P=0.018). They also reported significantly higher scores of fear of COVID-19 for all items (P<0.001). The mean scores of burnout items were significantly higher among frontline-HCWs as well as all items regarding the COVID-19 (P<0.001). The multivariate stepwise regression analysis confirmed Predictors for depression were: feeling the burnout (physical / mental exhaustion), feeling emotionally exhausted from work, clammy hand, number of years of work experience, fear of family members catching infection, can't sleep because the risk of getting COVID-19. Meanwhile, hardworking, number of years at work, feeling depressed and burnout (physical / mental exhaustion) form current COVID-19 work, were all considered main risk factors for anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study determined that fear and burnout related COVID-19 were significantly associated with high scores of depression, anxiety, and stress among frontline-HCWs, which requires immediate action and support.