Evaluation of Perceived Stress Levels of Radiology Workers Regarding COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

Objective:The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceived stress levels of radiology workers and associated factors during the Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) outbreak.Methods:A descriptive questionnaire prepared by the researchers was completed online by employees who work in the radiology department of various health institutions in Turkey. In our study, the perceived stress scale was used. The necessary ethics approval was obtained for the study. SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 22.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp) was used for statistical analysis of the data.Results:The average age of 573 radiology workers participating in the study was 34.0±9.3 years and 50.1% were women. The scores received by radiology workers from the perceived stress scale were 27.8±6.4 (median: 27.0, minimum-maximum: 6-50). In our study, it was determined that the perceived stress score was statistically significantly higher (p<0.05) in women and in those who lived with individuals over the age of 60, those working as radiology technicians, those who had a chronic disease, those who increased smoking, those who used social media more often than before, those who had not received training on COVID-19 infection, those who thought that the measures taken against COVID-19 infection were insufficient, and those who had contact with a patient with COVID-19.Conclusion:In our study, we identified the perceived high stressrelated factors that we thought could be useful for psychological support during the COVID-19 outbreak. With early detection of radiology workers at risk, we believe that both the mental health of the employees can be protected and workload loss can be prevented.

Keywords

• covid-19
• pandemic
• perceived stress score
• radiology workers