Elsevier

Psychiatry Research

Volume 290, August 2020, 113130
Psychiatry Research

Depression, anxiety, stress levels of physicians and associated factors in Covid-19 pandemics

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113130Get rights and content

Highligths

  • Physicians may be psycologically affected in the battle against the Covid19 pandemics

  • The mental wellbeing of healthcare workers need to be taken into consideration

  • Women, young and less experienced people are in the high-risk group

  • The excessive workload and inadequate logistic support may increase the perception of risk

Abstract

Aim

To investigate anxiety, stress, and depression levels of physicians during the Covid-19 outbreak and explored associated factors in both clinical and general site.

Methods

An online survey is conducted to asses psychological responses of healthcare workers and related factors during Covid-19 outbreak. It is consisted of three subsections covering the following areas: 1) sociodemographic data 2) information on individuals` working condition 3) Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DAS-21).

Results

Of all 442 participants, 286 (64.7%) had symptoms of depression, 224 (51.6%) anxiety, and 182 (41.2%) stress. Being female, young, and single, having less work experience, working in frontline were associated with higher scores, whereas having a child was associated with lower scores in each subscale. Factors found to be associated with higher DAS-21 total scores in frontline workers were as follows: increased weekly working hours, increased number of Covid-19 patients cared for, lower level of support from peers and supervisors, lower logistic support, and lower feelings of competence during Covid-19 related tasks.

Conclusions

Our findings highlight the factors which need to be taken into consideration to protect the mental wellbeing of doctors while fighting with a disaster that has major impacts on society worldwide.

Keywords

Doctors
Healthcare workers
Psychological effects
Outbreak

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