Sources of Health Anxiety for Hospital Staff Working during the Covid-19 Pandemic

Mehran Shayganfard, Fateme Mahdavi, Mohammad Haghighi, Dena Sadeghi-Bahmani and Serge Brand
Additional contact information
Mehran Shayganfard: Department of Psychiatry, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak 3848176341, Iran
Fateme Mahdavi: Student Research Committee, Arak University of Medical Sciences, Arak 3848176341, Iran
Mohammad Haghighi: Research Center for Behavioral Disorders and Substances Abuse, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan 65174, Iran
Dena Sadeghi-Bahmani: Departments of Physical Therapy, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35209, USA
Serge Brand: Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah 67146, Iran

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-11

Abstract: Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the likelihood that hospital staff will report symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress has increased. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative influences of circumstantial, demographic, and trait–state anxiety variables on health anxiety in this group. Methods: A total of 168 hospital staff members (mean age: 28.91 years; 56.5% females) participated in the study. They completed a series of questionnaires covering sociodemographic characteristics, health anxiety, state–trait anxiety, and job-related information. Participants also reported whether they had close acquaintances (friends, family members) infected with COVID-19. Results: Higher health anxiety was related to both trait and state anxiety. Working on the frontline, being in contact with close acquaintances infected with COVID-19, and higher state and trait anxiety predicted higher health anxiety. Gender, age, and educational background were not predictors. Conclusions: In a sample of hospital staff, subjective feelings of anxiety about one own’s health were related to personality traits, individual experiences of having close acquaintances infected with COVID-19, and working on the frontline.

Keywords: health anxiety; state-anxiety; trait-anxiety; COVID-19; frontline hospital staff members; age; gender (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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