Trait anxiety and coping strategies among healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

IntroductionThe current pandemic wave of COVID-19 has become a global threat. Healthcare professionals (HCP), by being on the front line in managing this pandemic, confronted high levels of stress and traumatic experiences.ObjectivesThe aims of our study were to evaluate the trait-anxiety among Tunisian HCP and its impact on coping strategies.MethodsA cross- sectional descriptive and analytic study conducted among Tunisian HCP during November and December 2020. The data was collected by an online questionnaire distributed through social media. The trait-anxiety was assessed using the “General Anxiety questionnaire of Spielberger” (STAI-Y-B) and the “Ways of coping checklist revised (WCC-R) questionnaire” identified three types of coping (problem-focused, emotion-focused and social-support seeking).ResultsParticipants were 135 HCP (71 males and 64 females) and aged from 24 to 61 years old (average age 31.98 years; SD 6.59 years). Of HCP involved in the study, 61.5% were single, 36.3% were married and 2.2% were divorced. Seventy-two of them had a trait-anxious. As a coping style, 85.2% of participants used problem-focused style, 88.9% of them used emotion-focused style and 63% of them used social support seeking style. The analysis of WCC-R showed that anxious HCP used emotion-focused coping more than non anxious HCP (p= 0.028). However, there was no significant difference in problem-focused or social support seeking coping styles and presence of trait-anxiety.ConclusionsIn our study, we find that the most anxious Tunisian HCP focused on emotions strategies. Personality traits play on attitudes of coping strategies.DisclosureNo significant relationships.