Explaining the Factors Involved in Psychological Effects of Covid-19 on Health Care Workers by Interpretive Structural Modeling

Abstract

Background: Spread of COVID-19 worldwide created anxiety, stress. In the meantime, healthcare workers have been suffering from significant psychological distress due to providing direct care to the patient, side injuries and quarantine. The present research aims to investigate and identify the factors involved in reduction of psychological effects of COVID-19 by interpretive structural modeling. Methods: This study was a mixed study (quantitative and qualitative). The study population included doctors, supervisors and nurses of the clinical departments of Khatam-ul-AnbiyaAbarkoh Hospital in Yazd. The participants were selected using the snowball sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. In the qualitative part of the research, mainly library studies and expert opinions were used. In the quantitative part of the research, the structural self-interaction matrix was used. The final analysis was performed by MATLAB2018. Results: The results show that the most psychological effects of Covid-19 are related to "appropriate measures to reduce the disease such as environmental ventilation" and "financial support of personnel" and "sufficient provision of personal protective equipment" and "dedicated sufficient manpower to the involved departments" (with a power of 8). And the lowest influence is related to "continuous training of stress management and constant presence of a psychologist" (with an influence of influence 5) Conclusion: The basic factors in the research model include continuous stress management training, the presence of a psychologist, and inspection of infected areas. By the management team and providing adequate personal protective equipment.

Keywords

• covid-19
• mental health
• psychological effects