Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of healthcare workers
2021 (English)In: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, ISSN 1661-7827, E-ISSN 1660-4601, Vol. 18, no 4, article id 1435
Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a great impact on healthcare workers (HCWs) that includes negative mental health outcomes, such as post-traumatic stress, anxiety and depressive symptoms. In this cross-sectional study, we report on mental health outcomes among HCWs in Cyprus. Data were collected between 3 May and 27 May 2020, with the use of an online questionnaire that included demographics (sex, age, occupation, education, work sector, years of work experience), the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) which assesses depressive symptoms, the Impact of Events Scale Revised (IES-R), which measures post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and the-10 item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10) which quantifies stress responses. Participants (42% physicians, 24% nurses, 18% physiotherapists, 16% classified as "other") were 58% of female gender and aged 21–76. A total of 79 (18.6%) and 62 HCWs (14.6%) reported clinically significant depressive (PHQ-9 ≥ 10) and post-traumatic stress (IES-R > 33) symptoms respectively. Nurses were more likely than physicians to suffer from depression (adjusted prevalence ratio 1.7 (1.06–2.73); p = 0.035) and PTSD (adjusted prevalence ratio 2.51 (1.49–4.23); p = 0.001). Even in a country with a rather low spread of the COVID-19, such as Cyprus, HCWs reported a substantial mental health burden, with nurses reporting increased depressive and PTSD symptoms compared to other HCWs.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI, 2021. Vol. 18, no 4, article id 1435
Keywords [en]
COVID-19, Depression, Healthcare workers, Post-traumatic stress
National Category
Public Health, Global Health and Social Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-180541DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18041435ISI: 000623565100001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85100237311OAI: oai:DiVA.org:umu-180541DiVA, id: diva2:1530255
2021-02-222021-02-222025-02-20Bibliographically approved