Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare (May 2021)
The Mental Health of Healthcare Staff Working During the COVID-19 Crisis: Their Working Hours as a Boundary Condition
Abstract
Haitong Gong, 1 Stephen X Zhang, 2 Khaled Nawaser, 3 Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi, 4, 5 Xingzi Xu, 6 Jizhen Li, 6 Afsaneh Bagheri 7 1Collegue of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia; 2Faculty of Professions, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia; 3Universidad Católica Los Ángeles de Chimbote, Instituto de Investigación, Chimbote, Peru; 4CENTRUM Católica Graduate Business School (CCGBS), Lima, Peru; 5School of Economics and Management, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (PUCP), Lima, Peru; 6School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 7Faculty of Entrepreneurship, University of Tehran, Tehran, IranCorrespondence: Stephen X ZhangFaculty of Professions, University of Adelaide, 9-28 Nexus10 Tower, 10 Pulteney St, Adelaide, SA, 5000, AustraliaTel +61 8831 39310Email [email protected]: Healthcare staff operate at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 and hence face enormous physical and mental pressures. We aim to investigate healthcare staff’s mental health issues and the associated predictors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this paper aims to identify some unique predictors of healthcare staff’s mental health issues in Iran, the second country after China to experience a major COVID-19 crisis.Methods: An online survey of 280 healthcare staff in all 31 provinces of Iran assessed staff’s mental distress (K6), depression, and anxiety (PHQ-4) during April 5– 20, 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis.Results: Nearly a third of healthcare staff surpassed the cutoff for distress, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Females or more educated healthcare staff were more likely to experience distress. Those who were unsure whether they had COVID-19 were more likely to experience distress and depression symptoms. The number of COVID-19 cases among a healthcare worker’s colleagues or friends positively predicted the worker’s anxiety symptoms. Amongst healthcare staff, doctors were less likely than radiology technologists to experience distress and anxiety symptoms. Technicians and obstetrics staff experienced fewer anxiety symptoms. The age and the weekly working days of healthcare staff interacted such that age is asignificant predictor of mental health issues among younger but not older healthcare staff.Conclusion: The identification of the predictors of mental health issues can guide healthcare organizations to screen healthcare workers who are more likely to be mentally vulnerable in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Keywords: healthcare staff, mental health, working time, age, COVID-19, epidemic, Iran
