Covid19 pandemic impacts on mental health of tunisian health care workers

Abstract

Introduction Covid19 pandemic in Tunisia has disturbed the health system. Health care workers, who were in the frontline to face this disease, had experienced reactions of anxiety, depression and distress. Objectives To assess the level of anxiety and depression among health care workers of regional hospital of Gabes (south of Tunisia) and its associated factors. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study, from April 19, 2020, to May 5, 2020 on healthcare workers in Gabes regional Hospital. All hospital departments and units were included. We used a self-administered anonymous questionnaire containing sociodemographic and clinical data. Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) validated in the Tunisian dialectal version was used to assess anxiety and depression. Results Among the 289 responding participants, 100 (34.6%) were frontline health care workers directly engaged in managing patients with coronavirus disease. Our study revealed that 43.6% of health care workers were suffering from anxiety and 44.3 % from depression. There was a significant association between anxiety and female gender (p<0.001), being married (p=0.006), mental health conditions (p<0.001) especially anxiety disorders (p<0.001) and depressive disorders (p=0.03), personal medical history of dysthyroidism (p=0.013) and smoking (p=0.005). Nurses experienced more likely anxiety symptoms than other occupation (p=0.021). There was significant relationship between depression and female gender (p<0.001), married status (p=0.02), age under 50 (p=0.032) and mental health conditions (p<0.001) such as anxiety disorders (p=0.001) and depressive disorders (p=0.013). Conclusions It is crucial to provide care for health care workers with mental health problems during their struggle with covid19.

Keywords

• health care workers
• mental health
• COVID-19 pandemic
• anxiety depression