Abstract
To characterize psychological distress and factors associated with distress in healthcare practitioners working during a stringent lockdown in a country (Jordan) that had exhibited one of the lowest incidence rates of Covid-19 globally at the time of the survey. A cross-sectional online survey sent to healthcare practitioners working in various hospitals and community pharmacies. Demographic, professional and psychological characteristics (distress using Kessler-6 questionnaire, anxiety, depression, burnout, sleep issues, exhaustion) were measured as were sources of fear. Descriptive and multivariable statistics were performed using level of distress as the outcome. We surveyed 937 practitioners (56.1% females). Approximately 68%, 14%, and 18% were nurses/technicians, physicians, and pharmacists (respectively). 32% suffered from high distress while 20% suffered from severe distress. Exhaustion, anxiety, depression, and sleep disturbances were reported (in past seven days) by approximately 34%, 34%, 19%, and 29% of subjects (respectively). Being older or male, a positive perception of communications with peers, and being satisfied at work, were significantly associated with lower distress. Conversely, suffering burnout; reporting sleep-related functional problems; exhaustion; being a pharmacist (relative to a physician); working in a cancer center; harboring fear about virus spreading; fear that the virus threatened life; fear of alienation from family/friends; and fear of workload increases, were significantly associated with higher distress. Despite low caseloads, Jordanian practitioners still experienced high levels of distress. Identified demographic, professional and psychological factors influencing distress should inform interventions to improve medical professionals' resilience and distress likelihood, regardless of the variable Covid-19 situation.
Highlights
Healthcare practitioners globally are currently facing extraordinary circumstances as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic
In countries across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to heightened anxiety, depression, stress, and insomnia among healthcare practitioners [6,7,8]
The low caseload in Jordan was largely due to stringent measures that were put in place promptly in March of 2020, which included: border closures and limiting free travel; testing and enforced 14-day isolation of all in-bound travelers in designated hotels and hospitals, followed by an additional 14-day quarantine after leaving those hotels or hospitals; imposing a six-week lockdown proceeded by a staggered re-opening of select sectors; banning social gatherings; and restricting the public’s movement using a daily curfew [9]
Summary
Healthcare practitioners globally are currently facing extraordinary circumstances as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. In countries across the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to heightened anxiety, depression, stress, and insomnia among healthcare practitioners [6,7,8]. The majority of these countries share the fact that they experienced high caseloads of Covid-19. The Kingdom of Jordan in the Middle East represented a differing situation and an interesting case study: the country, at the time of the survey, recorded some of the lowest numbers of cases (in comparison to global numbers) while numbers were surging across the world. The country only began to experience a surge in Covid cases in mid-September of 2020 when border restrictions were loosened [10]
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