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

• Main Authors: 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, Almah A. Alshehri
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-06-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: coronavirus; anxiety; depression; observational descriptive study
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/11/6076

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%; <i>p</i> = 0.048). High anxiety levels were detected among young staff compared to others (68.7% vs. 43.8%; <i>p</i> = 0.001). Moreover, 82.1% of the female staff were anxious, as compared to 55.6% of the males (<i>p</i> = 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.