Associated Factors with Perceived Fear of COVID-19 among Vietnamese Hospital Healthcare Workers during Fourth Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Implications for Interconnected and Social- and Personal-Based Health Support

Abstract

(1) Background: The present study measures the fear of COVID-19 among hospital healthcare workers and identifies several factors associated with increasing fear of COVID-19. (2) Methods: A cross-sectional, hospital-based survey was conducted on healthcare workforce recruited from the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases from 1 October 2021 and 20 October 2021. We selected the participants who have been directly involved in diagnosing, treating, or providing nursing care to patients with COVID-19. The primary data was collected via sending the invitation directly to the participants, utilizing structured self-completed questionnaires. The seven-item fear of COVID-19 scale was used to measure the data. The responses of 208 hospital healthcare workers were included in the final analysis. (3) Results: Total score of COVID-19 fear was 19.62 (SD = 5.22). The COVID-19 fear score of 7 items ranged from 2.38 (SD = 0.83) to 3.21 (SD = 0.96). The lowest and highest scores were the item ‘My hands become clammy when I think about Corona’ and the item ‘I am most afraid of corona’ was the highest, respectively. Linear regression of the COVID-19 fear showed that the factors positively correlated with the fear of COVID-19 among hospital healthcare workers were: being influenced by the community (p = 0.001), feeling at very high risk of COVID-19 (p = 0.03), and experiencing traumatic stress with an academic event (p = 0.042). (4) Conclusions: Although these findings merit further elaboration, these preliminary findings suggest relatively great fear of the COVID-19 pandemic among Vietnamese hospital healthcare workers and that social and personal connections are necessary for maintaining the mental wellbeing.

The effect of vaccination beliefs regarding vaccination benefits and COVID-19 fear on the number of vaccination injections

“…Other Vietnamese studies have used the same tool to assess levels of fear about COVID-19. A mean score of 19.6 ± 5.2 was reported for a survey conducted (Doan et al, 2021). Another study comprising 4,348 outpatients was conducted from 7 April to 31 May 2020; a mean score of 20.6 ± 5.4 for COVID-19 fear (Nguyen et al, 2021a).…”

“…In Vietnam, from April to June 2020, Vietnamese youth's fear of COVID-19 is moderate before the first vaccination (Pham et al, 2021 ). Medical staff is also at the average level as of October 2021 (Doan et al, 2021 ), outpatients are also at the average level from 7 April to 31 May 2020 (Nguyen et al, 2021a ), and April 2020 medical students at the low end (Nguyen et al, 2020 ). Thus, most are at an average of 19.2–21/35 for young people, medical staff, outpatients from 4/2020 to 10/2021 (Doan et al, 2021 ; Nguyen et al, 2021a ; Pham et al, 2021 ), and only births medical staff is on the low end of 16.7/35 (Nguyen et al, 2020 ).…”

“…Medical staff is also at the average level as of October 2021 (Doan et al, 2021 ), outpatients are also at the average level from 7 April to 31 May 2020 (Nguyen et al, 2021a ), and April 2020 medical students at the low end (Nguyen et al, 2020 ). Thus, most are at an average of 19.2–21/35 for young people, medical staff, outpatients from 4/2020 to 10/2021 (Doan et al, 2021 ; Nguyen et al, 2021a ; Pham et al, 2021 ), and only births medical staff is on the low end of 16.7/35 (Nguyen et al, 2020 ). Besides that, those with higher risk perception and more anxiety exhibited significantly higher vaccine acceptance in Turkey, the United Kingdom (Salali and Uysal, 2020 ), and France (Detoc et al, 2020 ).…”

Demand for mental health support services among health professionals in Vietnam: Lesson from COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The Cronbach’s alpha of FCV-19S was 0.768, suggesting acceptable internal consistency reliability [ 13 ]. We adapted this instrument from previous studies given that this instrument has been used widely in Vietnam [ 14 , 15 ].…”

“…Depression stratification entails five distinct levels: normal (0-9), mild (10)(11)(12)(13), moderate (14-20), severe (21-27), and very severe (28 and above). Anxiety is categorized into five levels, specifically normal (0-7), mild (8-9), moderate (10)(11)(12)(13)(14), severe (15)(16)(17)(18)(19), and very severe (20 and above). Stress can be categorized into five distinct levels, namely normal (ranging from 0 to 14), mild (from 15 to 18), moderate (from 19 to 25), severe (from 26 to 33), and very severe (34 and above).…”