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Anxiety among front-line health-care workers supporting patients with COVID-19: A global survey.
- Source :
-
General hospital psychiatry [Gen Hosp Psychiatry] 2021 Jan-Feb; Vol. 68, pp. 90-96. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Dec 20. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Objective: We aimed to explore anxiety status across a broad range of HCWs supporting patients with COVID-19 in different global regions.<br />Method: This was an international online survey in which participation was on voluntary basis and data were submitted via Google Drive, across a two-week period starting from March 18, 2020. The Beck Anxiety Inventory was used to quantify the level of anxiety.<br />Results: 1416 HCWs (70.8% medical doctors, 26.2% nurses) responded to the survey from 75 countries. The distribution of anxiety levels was: normal/minimal (n = 503, 35.5%), low (n = 390, 27.5%); moderate (n = 287, 20.3%), and severe (n = 236, 16.7%). According to multiple generalized linear model, female gender (p = 0.001), occupation (ie, being a nurse dealing directly with patients with COVID-19 [p = 0.017]), being younger (p = 0.001), reporting inadequate knowledge on COVID-19 (p = 0.005), having insufficient personal protective equipment (p = 0.001) and poor access to hand sanitizers or liquid soaps (p = 0.008), coexisting chronic disorders (p = 0.001) and existing mental health problems (p = 0.001), and higher income of countries where HCWs lived (p = 0.048) were significantly associated with increased anxiety.<br />Conclusions: Front-line HCWs, regardless of the levels of COVID-19 transmission in their country, are anxious when they do not feel protected. Our findings suggest that anxiety could be mitigated ensuring sufficient levels of protective personal equipment alongside greater education and information.<br /> (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Subjects :
- Adult
Age Factors
Female
Health Care Surveys
Health Surveys
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Sex Factors
Anxiety epidemiology
COVID-19 diagnosis
COVID-19 therapy
Nurses statistics & numerical data
Occupational Stress epidemiology
Personal Protective Equipment statistics & numerical data
Physicians statistics & numerical data
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1873-7714
- Volume :
- 68
- Database :
- MEDLINE
- Journal :
- General hospital psychiatry
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 33418193
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2020.12.010