COVID-19 Psychological Impact on Health Care Workers in Saudi Arabia

Hasan S. Alamri, Wesam F. Mousa, Abdullah Algarni, Shehata F. Megahid, Ali Al Bshabshe, Nada N. Alshehri, Awad Alsamghan, Abdullah Alsabaani, Rasha T. Mirdad, Asrar M. Alshahrani, Alya A. Gadah and Almah A. Alshehri
Additional contact information
Hasan S. Alamri: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 62527, Saudi Arabia
Wesam F. Mousa: College of Medicine, University of Tanta, Tanta 31512, Egypt
Abdullah Algarni: Ministry of Health, Abha 62523, Saudi Arabia
Shehata F. Megahid: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
Ali Al Bshabshe: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 62527, Saudi Arabia
Nada N. Alshehri: Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 62527, Saudi Arabia
Awad Alsamghan: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
Abdullah Alsabaani: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha 61421, Saudi Arabia
Rasha T. Mirdad: Armed Forces Hospital Southern Region, Khamis Mushait 62413, Saudi Arabia
Asrar M. Alshahrani: King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh 11564, Saudi Arabia
Alya A. Gadah: King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh 14611, Saudi Arabia
Almah A. Alshehri: Ministry of Health, Abha 62523, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-12

Abstract: 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%; p = 0.048). High anxiety levels were detected among young staff compared to others (68.7% vs. 43.8%; p = 0.001). Moreover, 82.1% of the female staff were anxious, as compared to 55.6% of the males ( p = 0.001). Conclusions: We found increased prevalence of adverse psychological outcomes among the health care workers in Saudi Arabia during the outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, there is a need for proper screening and development of corresponding preventive measures to decrease the adverse psychological outcomes.

Keywords: coronavirus; anxiety; depression; observational descriptive study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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