Depression, Anxiety and Associated Factors among Frontline Hospital Healthcare Workers in the Fourth Wave of COVID-19: Empirical Findings from Vietnam

Abstract

(1) Background: This study aims to assess the magnitude of, and factors associated with, depression and anxiety among Vietnamese frontline hospital healthcare workers in the fourth wave of COVID-19; (2) Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out within two weeks, October 2020, at a central COVID-19 treatment hospital. Depression and anxiety were measured with PHQ-9 and GAD-7, respectively. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were applied to recognize variables related to depression and anxiety, respectively; (3) Results: Among 208 frontline hospital healthcare workers, overall prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and both symptoms of depression and anxiety was 38.94%, 25.48% and 24.04%, respectively, in healthcare workers. In a reduced model after using multivariate stepwise logistic regression, age (OR = 0.9, p = 0.001), marital status (OR = 7.84, p = 0.027), profession (OR = 0.39, p = 0.028), having experienced traumatic stress following a work event (OR = 46.24, p < 0.001), feeling at very high risk for COVID-19 (OR = 0.02, p < 0.04), and affected by workplace conditions (OR = 5.36, p < 0.001) were associated with the symptoms of depression. With regard to symptoms of anxiety, single status (OR: 12.18, p = 0.002), being medical technician (OR: 68.89, p < 0.001), alcohol use (OR: 6.83, p = 0.014), using pain relief medications (OR: 25.50, p = 0.047), having experienced traumatic stress following a family event (OR: 130.32, p = 0.001), having experienced traumatic stress following a work event (OR: 181.55, p = 0.002), reporting at very high risk for COVID-19 (OR: 29.64, p = 0.011), treating moderate (OR: 6.46, p = 0.038) and severe (OR: 18.96, p = 0.004) COVID-19 patients, and being significantly affected by the community (OR: 6.33, p = 0.003) were increased risk factors for the symptoms of anxiety. Meanwhile, those living with 4–5 people (OR: 0.15, p = 0.011), specializing in infectious disease (OR: 0.13, p = 0.044)/resuscitation and emergency medicine (OR: 0.04, p = 0.046), and having knowledge preparation before participating in COVID-19 (OR: 0.008, p = 0.014) were less associated with the symptoms of anxiety; (4) Conclusions: There was a relatively high prevalence among Vietnamese hospital healthcare workers exhibiting symptoms of depression and anxiety during the ongoing pandemic. Greater attention to training in psychological skills should be suggested for those belonging to a younger age group, being single/widowed/divorced, treating moderate and severe COVID-19 patients, feeling at very high risk for COVID-19, being significantly affected a lot the community or workplace conditions, or experiencing traumatic stress following a family/work event in the past week.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety among Vietnamese immigrants in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional web-based study

“…A previous study reported that only 33.1% and 5.5% of clinical health care workers in Vietnam experienced mild-to-severe and moderate-to-severe symptoms of anxiety, respectively (Quang et al, 2021). Another recent study noted that 25.5% and 4.3% of healthcare workers in Vietnam exhibited mild-to-severe and moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms, respectively (Doan et al, 2021). Few studies have investigated anxiety symptoms in Japanese immigrants during COVID-19; however, a recent study reported that 66.6% of Chinese residents in Japan exhibited mild-to-severe symptoms of depression immediately after the first wave of COVID-19 (Hu and Umeda, 2021).…”

“…[18] Another recent study noted that 25.5% and 4.3% of healthcare workers in Vietnam exhibited mild-to-severe and moderate-to-severe anxiety symptoms, respectively. [14] Ueda et al [29] reported mild-to-severe symptoms of anxiety in 31.6% of Japanese people 18 years and older, based on GAD-7 scores. As observed for depressive symptoms, the prevalence of anxiety appears to be similar between Vietnamese immigrants and other immigrant populations in Japan, with immigrants experiencing more severe symptoms than Japanese and Vietnamese individuals living in their home countries.…”

“…Participants rated each questionnaire item on a 3-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (not at all) to 3 (almost every day), with the total score ranging from 0 to 21. GAD-7 scores ≥5 were considered to indicate the presence of anxiety symptoms, as previously reported (Doan et al, 2021; Quang et al, 2021). We conducted multivariable logistic regression analysis (forced-entry method) to identify factors related to symptoms of depression and anxiety, which were used as the dependent variables.…”

“…GAD-7 scores ≥5 were considered to indicate the presence of anxiety symptoms, as previously reported. [14,18]…”

“…Social support status was assessed based on whether patients had partners with whom to talk about their health. Levels of depression and anxiety were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7), respectively, which have been validated for assessing mental health status in Vietnam (Do et al, 2020; Doan et al, 2021; Nguyen et al, 2020; Pham et al, 2019; Pham et al, 2020; Quang et al, 2021). In our study, the Cronbach’s alpha values for the reliability of the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 were 0.844 and 0.933, respectively.…”