Depression, anxiety and stress levels of operating room workers during the COVID-19 pandemic period

Abstract

Purpose: The objective of this study was to determine the depression, anxiety, and stress levels of operating room workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Materials and Methods: The data were collected using the “Personal Information Form” and "Depression Anxiety Stress-21 (DASS-21)" scale. The personal information form consisted of eight questions including age, gender, profession, professional seniority, status of being diagnosed with COVID-19, being afraid of developing COVID-19, presence of chronic diseases and change in weight during the pandemic period. DASS-21 scale is a 4-point Likert type (never=0; always=3) scale and consists of seven questions with each predicting "depression, stress and anxiety dimensions".
 Results: A total of 253 volunteers with 161 (63.6%) being female and 92 (36.4%) male were included in this observational screening study. Anxiety score of female participants (5.65±4.44) was found to be statistically significantly higher compared to the male participants (3.94±4.68). Depression (5.97±4.41), anxiety (5.48±4.53) and stress (6.94±4.59) scores were significantly higher in the participants who were afraid of developing COVID-19. Depression, anxiety and stress scores were significantly higher in the participants with chronic diseases than in those without chronic diseases. 
 Conclusion: The findings of our study indicate that the mean depression, anxiety and stress scores of the operating room personnel were mild.