Stress and psychological consequences of COVID-19 on health-care workers

Abstract

Background: The wide scope and spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) could lead to a true mental health disaster, especially in countries with high caseloads. Very few studies have assessed the impact on hospital staff. This study aimed to assess mental health changes in health-care workers (Northern Area Armed Forces Hospital-Kingdom of Saudi Arabia). Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed among the participants, and the survey contained demographic questions and questions related to anxiety, worries, and fears, in addition to depressive symptoms and basic sleep profile. In addition, the psychological impacts, feelings, fears of developing COVID-19, and symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder were assessed using the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R). Results: The mean age of the staff was 38.2 years. The examined staffs showed high levels of anxiety and depressive features: 19.3% had crying and depressed mood and 2.4% had loss of motivation; they depended mainly on social media as a source of COVID-19 information. Moreover, these features correlated positively with their Post-Traumatic features measured by the IES-R. Nearly 27.3% of the participants had their duty impacted by COVID-19 and 40.6% were affected financially. Conclusion: Our study identified a vulnerable group susceptible to psychological distress. Psychological support could also be included as counseling services and development of support systems among colleagues.

Keywords

• anxieties
• covid-19
• impact of events scale-revised
• psychological impact
• sleep