Psychological status of healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic: a single center observational study from Peshawar

Abstract

Introduction: Infectious pandemics are a significant health risk to the general population, but much more so for the frontline health care workers tending patients at different locations. The increased workload, stress, fear, and anxiety are the burdens to be coped with by health professionals through resort to resiliency and other mechanisms.
Objective: To determine the magnitude of depression / anxiety and factors associated with it in health care workers of a tertiary care hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Materials & Methods: This cross sectional study was conducted at Rehman Medical Institute, Peshawar after approval from Rehman Medical Institute Research Ethics Committee. A structured questionnaire consisting of two sections was distributed by convenience sampling to health care workers in the hospital, the first part containing demographic information, and the second part consisting of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) comprised of 14 scales to assess anxiety and depression. Scoring for Normal, Borderline Abnormal, and Definitive Disorder was done as per standard criteria. Data were analyzed for descriptive statistics by SPSS 22.

Results: Total 327 participants were included in the study, having mean age of 30.19 ± 7.82 years, of which 230(70.3%) were males. The majority of health care workers 226(69.1%) were suffering from disturbed mental status either in the form of Anxiety (19.9%), Depression (8%) or Mixed Disorder (41.3%). Factors associated with high disease frequency were female gender, age group 21-30 years, nursing staff, workers of ICU and Hostel residence (p value <0.05).

Conclusion: COVID-19 related psychological disturbances significantly affected healthcare staff of a tertiary care hospital of Peshawar, being more evident in females, younger age groups, nurses, and ICU staff on duty.