Abstract
Background:Secondary traumatization exposure and mental health conditions of health care workers gained importance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic period.Aims:In our study, we aim to research the secondary traumatization and associated factors among health care workers.Method:This cross-sectional study was applied through an online questionnaire using the snowball sampling method. Two hundred fifty-one health care workers from different units/services and 312 non-medical worker adults attended to the research. Health care workers were divided into two groups based on working with COVID-19 patients at the frontline or not. The data were collected via Introductory Information Form, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS) and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4) between 22 May and 30 May 2020.Results:Among the 563 participants, 251 (44.6%) were health care workers and 312 (55.4%) were non-medical workers. The anxiety, depression and secondary traumatization scores of the frontline health care workers for the COVID-19 were found to be significantly higher than those of the other health workers or non-medical workers (p < .001). Also, we found that being a woman, being in the first years of the work, living with a parent, having a chronic disease, having a trauma history and increased social media use are related to having higher scores from the secondary traumatization scale.Conclusion:The secondary traumatization exposure and the mental health conditions of the health care workers directly working with the COVID-19 patients should be taken into consideration. It is important to provide social support, examine and control riskier groups for mental health regularly during the pandemic.
Highlights
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has currently affected more than 3.5 million people globally between the December 2019 and May 2020 period
One hundred nine (43.4%) of the health care workers were directly working with the COVID-19-positive patients and 142 (56.6%) were not in direct contact
Five hundred sixty-three participants, 251 of whom are health care professionals, attended this cross-sectional study, and we found that health care workers who treat the COVID-19 patients experience higher secondary traumatization
Summary
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak has currently affected more than 3.5 million people globally between the December 2019 and May 2020 period. According to a study conducted on 1,830 frontline health care workers in China, approximately half of the respondents (50.4%) showed signs of depression, 44.6% of anxiety, 34% of insomnia and 71.5% have shown symptoms of increased stress (Lai et al, 2020). Secondary traumatization exposure and mental health conditions of health care workers gained importance during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic period. The anxiety, depression and secondary traumatization scores of the frontline health care workers for the COVID-19 were found to be significantly higher than those of the other health workers or non-medical workers (p < .001). Conclusion: The secondary traumatization exposure and the mental health conditions of the health care workers directly working with the COVID-19 patients should be taken into consideration. It is important to provide social support, examine and control riskier groups for mental health regularly during the pandemic
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