Open AccessWhich of us were more affected by the pandemic? The psychiatric impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on healthcare professionals in the province where the first quarantine units were established in Turkey
Author(s) -
Bulut Dilek,
Sefa Sayar Merve,
Koparal Buket,
Cem Bulut Ender,
Çelik Sebahattin
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international journal of clinical practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1742-1241
pISSN - 1368-5031
DOI - 10.1111/ijcp.14235
Subject(s) - medicine , pandemic , anxiety , health care , health professionals , psychiatry , incidence (geometry) , insomnia , marital status , covid-19 , family medicine , environmental health , disease , population , physics , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty) , optics , economics , economic growth
Psychiatric problems, such as stress and anxiety disorders, are encountered amongst healthcare professionals fighting epidemics. Considering that COVID‐19 suddenly became a pandemic and healthcare professionals have not had access to sufficient information, it is a fact that healthcare professionals have been affected on a large scale. Heavy workloads, insufficient equipment and anxiety over families increase this impact. We aimed to investigate the extent to which healthcare professionals have been psychologically affected by COVID‐19 and related factors. Methodology Data obtained through questionnaires completed by 348 healthcare professionals working during the COVID‐19 pandemic and 350 participants who are in the control group were investigated. The Impact of Event Scale‐revised (IES‐R) for post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the Severity Index (ISI) for insomnia were used. Differences regarding gender, occupation, age group, marital status and sub‐groups were statistically analysed. Results Of the 348 healthcare professionals, 176 (50.6%) were women and 172 (49.4%) men, while 190 (54.6%) were doctors and 158 (45.4%) nurses. The incidence of PTSD was statistically significantly higher in the healthcare professionals group than in the control group ( P < .001). The incidence of PTSD was statistically significantly higher amongst nurses ( P = .001), women ( P = .002) and those who were married ( P = .007). Both PTSD and insomnia were found to be statistically significantly higher amongst those working in the “area of final diagnosis” ( P = .016 and P = .002, respectively). Conclusions The determination of the groups most affected amongst professionals working in epidemics is important for the planning of in‐service training and psychological support studies. If the fight against pandemics includes health teams with strong psychological grounding, it leads to qualified medical care for patients.