Abstract
Following the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic in March 2020, a state of alarm was decreed in Spain. In this situation, healthcare workers experienced high levels of stress, anxiety and depression due to the heavy workload and working conditions. Although Spain experienced a progressive decline in the number of COVID-19 cases until the last week of May (when a flattening of the case curve was achieved) and the work overload among health workers was substantially reduced, several studies have shown that this work overload is associated with the later emergence of psychological symptoms induced by stress. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of stress, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and compassionate fatigue in health professionals. The sample consisted of 973 health professionals 16.5% men, 82.9% women, and one non-binary person. The data were collected through an online questionnaire sent to the participants by e-mail. DASS-21 was used to measure anxiety, stress and depression, PCL-C to measure post-traumatic stress and ProQOL -vIV to measure compassion fatigue. In addition, other descriptive variables that could be related to these levels of psychological symptomatology were evaluated. The results reveal that after the work overload experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers report psychological symptoms, post-traumatic stress and compassion fatigue. It is therefore recommended that these professionals be provided with psychological help in order to reduce the emotional impact of COVID-19, and consequently improve their mental health.
Highlights
At the end of December 2019, the Chinese city of Wuhan reported a novel pneumonia caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Lai et al, 2020)
Another study in Turkey confirmed that 64.7% of physicians had depressive symptoms, 51.6% suffered from anxiety and 41.2% experienced stress-related symptoms in the early period of the COVID-19 outbreak (Elbay et al, 2020)
In Spain, a study conducted with medical staff in the same time frame, reported that 46.7% of health professionals indicated suffering from stress, 37% from anxiety, 27.4% from depression and 28.9% from sleep problems, with higher levels of symptoms among women and older professionals
Summary
At the end of December 2019, the Chinese city of Wuhan reported a novel pneumonia caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (Lai et al, 2020). The growing number of confirmed and suspected cases, overwhelming workload, extensive media coverage, depletion of personal protective equipment, lack of specific medications and perceived inadequate support has contributed to the significant mental burden that has been carried by these health professionals (Lee et al, 2007; Lai et al, 2020; Pfefferbaum and North, 2020) Stress reaction symptoms such as anxiety, depression, somatization and hostility have been reported during and after the previous pandemics (Mak et al, 2009). In Spain, a study conducted with medical staff in the same time frame, reported that 46.7% of health professionals indicated suffering from stress, 37% from anxiety, 27.4% from depression and 28.9% from sleep problems, with higher levels of symptoms among women and older professionals Factors such as having been in contact with the virus or experiencing fear at work, triggered greater symptomatology (Dosil et al, 2020). A systematic review including 13 studies detected medium-high levels of anxiety (26.5–44.6%), depression (8.1–25%), concern and insomnia (23.6–38%) among these professionals, and found that mental health and mental functions were especially compromised on those professionals hting on the front line of battle against the virus (García-Iglesias et al, 2020)
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