Stress level assessment among health care workers involved in the management of critically ill COVID-19 patients.
Aisa, Tharwat; Diviney, Dara; Thomas, Jubil; Al Qadheeb, Nada; Abdelbaky, Moamen; Afify, Hosam; Yasawy, Mustafa; Mahmoud, Mohamad; Abdallah, Ahmed; Bashir, Asma; Algrni, Khaled; Elgammal, Basheer
Background: Intensive care health care workers (HCWs) are frontlines of this crisis as they deal with critically ill COVID-19 patients which can potentially affect their mental well-being and causes different levels of stress.
Aim: To determine the prevalence of stress among HCWs involved in the management of critically ill COVID-19 patient, identify the factors associated with stress, and highlight the availability of psychological support provided to HCWs.
Methods: A cross-sectional multicenter, international study using a web-based questionnaire of 27 questions including the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) for assessment of stress level. Questions to identify factors associated with stress, the psychological support provided, and the sociodemographic characteristics were included.
Results: We received a total 1649 responses from 59 countries: 550 (34%) were from Europe, 525 (32.36%) from Asia, 283 (17.44%) from Africa, 177 (11%) from America, and 88 (5.42%) from Australia. The average stress level was 22 points on the PSS denoting moderate stress in 1327 (81.8%) respondents, while 239 (14.73%) respondents had a severe level of stress. Female gender, working in high capacity units and remote areas in addition to lack of psychological support, was significantly associated with stress in our study.
Conclusion: Stress level was moderate to severe among intensive care HCWs during this pandemic, and many factors were associated with stress emphasizing the importance of psychological support during that unprecedented pandemic.
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