Psychological Disorders among Healthcare Workers in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cross Sectional Study (original) (raw)
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World Family Medicine Journal /Middle East Journal of Family Medicine
Background: The mental health impact of a disease outbreak is usually neglected by pandemic management with costly consequences. Early evidence shows that health workers directly involved in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with COVID-19 are at risk of developing mental health symptoms. Similar adverse psychological reactions were reported among healthcare workers in previous studies during the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. Objectives: to assess the prevalence and determinants of depression, anxiety, and stress among healthcare workers at Prince Mohammed bin Nasser Tertiary Hospital in Jazan City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among healthcare worker at Prince Mohammed bin Nasser Hospital. A total of 352 health workers were included in the study. Data was collected through a self-administered questionnaire pertaining to socio-demographic characteristics and the depression anxiety stress scale 21-item...
PeerJ
Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic places a high demand on frontline healthcare workers. Healthcare workers are at high-risk of contracting the virus and are subjected to its consequential emotional and psychological effects. This study aimed to measure the level of depression and anxiety among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods This was a cross-sectional study; data were collected from healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia using a survey that included the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7. A total of 326 participants took part in the study by completing and submitting the survey. Results The vast majority of the participating healthcare workers were Saudi nationals (98.8%) working in a public healthcare facility (89.9%). The results indicated that most of the participants had mild levels of anxiety and depression. A total of 72.5% of the respondents had anxie...
PLOS ONE
Introduction Few studies have considered the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). We estimated the prevalence and severity of psychological distress and characterized predisposing risk factors among HCWs in KSA during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional online survey of 1,985 HCWs from 6 hospitals across the country designated with caring for COVID-19 patients between April 16 and June 21, 2020. Our data analysis was performed using logistic regressions. Ordered logistic regressions were also performed using forward stepwise model selection to explore the effects of risk factors on psychological distress. Results The prevalence of psychological distress reported by HCWs in KSA was high, ranging from mild-moderate to severe in severity. Younger HCWs, women, those in contact with COVID-19 patients, and those who either had loved ones affected or who were themselves affected by COVID-19 were...
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2021
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to healthcare workers worldwide. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia, and to identify the factors associated with these psychological disorders. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based study was conducted from January 21 to March 2, 2021. Physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and other healthcare workers from different parts of Saudi Arabia were recruited through snowball sampling. Psychological outcomes were measured using the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Pearson's chi-square test was used to explore the bivariate association between diverse characteristics and each outcome. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with depression, anxiety, and stress. Results: A total of 501 healthcare workers completed the survey, of whom 60% were female and nearly half were pharmacists. The majority (76.25%) of respondents reported that a family member, friend, or colleague had contracted COVID-19, and more than one-third (36%) knew someone who died due to COVID-19. Overall, the estimated prevalence rates of depression, anxiety, and stress were 54.69, 60.88, and 41.92%, respectively. The multivariate analysis revealed that healthcare workers with chronic diseases, nurses, and healthcare workers from the southern region were more likely to suffer from depression and stress. Further, individuals with positive COVID-19 test results showed a greater proportion of depressive symptoms compared to others. In addition, knowing someone who died due to COVID-19 and having a chronic illness were predisposing factors for anxiety. Almalki et al. Healthcare Providers Mental Health in COVID-19 Conclusion: After more than a year, the prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress remains substantial among healthcare workers in Saudi Arabia. The findings can help guide efforts to mitigate the psychological impact of the pandemic.
Springer Nature, 2022
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has shown a significant impact on the psychological wellbeing of health care workers. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of health care workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the months of November and December, 283 health care workers completed a survey containing measures of depression, anxiety and stress (using Depression Anxiety and Stress-21 scale [DASS-21]) and questions regarding potential predictors such as the role of COVID-19 perception, availability of mental health support and work-related factors. Pearson X 2 test revealed factors associated with the presence of significant psychiatric symptoms. Result: Among the participants, 17.3% screened positive for depression, 26.2% for anxiety and 17.3% for stress. Nurses reported significantly more depression, anxiety and stress than doctors. Those who received mental health support reported significantly lesser depression, anxiety and stress. Those who felt that quality of life was heavily impacted due to COVID-19 reported significantly high depression, anxiety and stress. Conclusions: Poor psychological well-being was prevalent in health care workers; however, mental health measures have been shown to significantly reduce the mental health burden in health care workers.
Risk Management and Healthcare Policy
Background: The rapid spread of COVID-19 worldwide has confined millions of people to their homes and has caused a substantial degree of psychological distress. This study aims to investigate the psychological distress impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among the Saudi population. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, using data collected from 3036 participants via an online self-reported questionnaire. The psychological distress was constructed using the COVID-19 Peritraumatic Distress Index to classify individuals in the sample as having normal, mild or severe distress levels. The study used descriptive analysis and multinomial logistic regressions to examine the sociodemographic factors associated with psychological distress levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The evidence showed that 40% of the Saudi population are distressed due to COVID-19, of whom approximately 33% are mildly distressed, while 7% are severely distressed. The distress levels are particularly high amongst the young, females, private sector employees and health workers, especially those working on the frontline. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic is associated with increased distress amongst people living in Saudi Arabia. In support of evidence found in other countries, the study has established that the distress levels vary across different sociodemographic characteristics. Therefore, limiting people's psychological damage demands both medium-and long-term policy strategies, which include mapping the rates of stress and anxiety for effective psychological treatment allocation and establishing innovative online methods of heightening people's mental wellbeing.
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
This study investigated the relationship between fear of COVID-19, previous exposure to COVID-19, perceived vulnerability to disease, sleep quality, and psychological distress among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Taif city in Saudi Arabia, which has a population of 702,000 people. A cross-sectional study design was adopted. HCWs (n = 202) completed a survey containing the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S), Perceived Vulnerability to Disease (PVD), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21). FCV-19S and sleep quality were significant predictors for psychological distress. Female gender was a significant predictor for depression and stress. Single, divorced, and widowed marital status were predictive for anxiety. FCV-19S was weakly correlated with PVD but moderately with depression, anxiety, and stress. Of the two PVD subscales, perceived infectability was weakly correlated with psychological distress. PVD and previous experience with COVID...
COVID-19 Psychological Impact on Health Care Workers in Saudi Arabia
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Objective: Little is known about the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the psychological impact of COVID-19 among the health care workers. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from May till mid-July among 389 health care workers from government and private hospitals in Saudi Arabia. Data was collected using a pre-structured online questionnaire that measured adverse psychological outcomes, including the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale. The Pearson chi-square test was used to assess the distribution of depression and anxiety among health care workers. Results: A high level of anxiety was recorded among the health care workers, and 69.3% of health care workers below the age of 40 were found to have depression. There was a significant increase in depression among staff with chronic health problems (72.1% vs. 61.9%; ...
Mental Health Disorders among Healthcare Workers Exposed to COVID-19 Patients in Saudi Arabia
The Journal of medical research, 2021
Background: Since the outbreak of Covid-19, several studies have demonstrated that healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of developing mental health disorders. Objective: To survey Saudi healthcare workers exposed to Covid-19 patients for most commonly reported mental health disorders. Study type, settings & duration: A descriptive cross-sectional study carried out at King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) during June 2020. Methodology: The population comprised of healthcare workers (physicians, nurses and paramedical staff). The mental health disorders explored were depression, anxiety, insomnia and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software version 22.0 (IBM Corp). Results: The most frequent mental health disorder reported in the present study was anxiety (68.6%) followed by insomnia (30.3%), PTSD (15.7%) and clinically significant depression (11.1%). Frontline healthcare workers demonstrated significantly higher risk of developing anxiety and PTSD after adjustment for other factors (OR of 1.9, 95% CI: 1.13-3.15, p =0.015), and (OR of 2.7, 95% CI: 1.22-6.01, p =0.014) respectively. Conclusion: Frontline HCWs demonstrated approximately twofold increased risk of developing anxiety and approximately threefold risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorders after adjustment for other variables. We suggest launching a large scale health education program and screening for Saudi HCWs engaged in the management of Covid-19 patients.
Family Medicine & Primary Care Review, 2022
Background. Recently, researchers have shown increased interest in the psychological effect of the pandemic on healthcare workers, as well as on the general population. Objectives. We aimed to investigate the incidence of adverse psychological effects, such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, experienced by medical staff and healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Material and methods. This is a cross-sectional survey, in which participants were invited to take part in the study by completing a questionnaire. The survey gathered information on demographic data, symptoms of the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales (DASS-21) and the Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) tool. Results. The total and subscale of DAS-21 showed that 54.8% of all participants showed signs of depression, (60.1%) anxiety and (59.4%) stress. The faculty member of medicine was substantially correlated with the DASS-21 subscale depression and anxiety. In addition, the stress subscale of the DASS-21 was substantially higher with a medical intern. Similarly, the findings obtained from the preliminary study of participants who encountered or were exposed to COVID-19 patients had significantly higher stress subscale ratings in the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scales. In addition, the married participants were correlated with higher scores in the (IES-R) tool. Conclusions. More than half of the participants in this study encountered mild to extreme psychological effects during the pandemic. This investigation's findings indicate that working in the medical profession (medical staff members and medical interns) is associated with depression, anxiety and stress.