Factors Associated with Mental Health Outcomes and the Level of Work Engagement Among Health Care Workers Exposed to Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Tunisia

Abstract

Introduction Heath workers especiallyin the emergency rooms and emergency medical services are exposed to sustained stress which had increased due to the Pandemic situation Objectives To search for factors associated with mental disorders among health workers during the Covid 19 pandemic Methods Data were collected through a questionnaire,with demographic variables anddifferentscales to evaluate the degree of symptoms of depression, anxiety, insomnia, distress, and the level of work engagement(PHQ-9,GAD-7,ISI,IES-R,UWES-9). Results Of the 217 participants, 46% were physicians, 42% were nurses and 12% were emergency medical technicians. We also found a femalepredominance of 66%, 55% were single and a total of 155 participants of whom 71% were frontline health workers. In our study, 54.8% of the HCWs had symptoms of depression, 68.2% had symptoms of anxiety and insomnia and 71.4% had symptoms of distress. Binarylogisticregressionanalysisshowedthat being married was associated with depression, anxiety, and insomnia, and being a frontlineworkerappeared to be a risk factor for depression and insomnia. Psychiatric support was an independentrisk factor for all psychiatric symptoms.In addition, living in a rural area was associated with depression, and age 31 or older was associated with anxiety. In addition, having a history of psychiatric illness was a risk factor for insomnia. Being a nurse was identified as a risk factor for psychiatric distress. We also found a moderatelevel of professional commitment to be a protective factor. Conclusions Protecting healthcare workers is a crucial part of the public health response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Disclosure No significant relationships.

Keywords

• Covid19 pandemic-mental health-health care workers-depressioninsomnia-distress-anxiety-work engagem