The effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on physicians’ psychological resilience levels

Abstract

Background: Health care workers exposed to coronavirus19 disease could be psychologically stressed. The objective of this study is to assess the anxiety, depression levels, and psychological resilience of physicians working during the Covid-19 outbreak and to evaluate the related factors that are associated with their psychological resilience. Methods: The sample of this descriptive study was composed of medical doctors and dentists. The data was obtained online between April 13-23, 2020 through a survey prepared by the researchers. In addition, a questionnaire about the participants' Information Classification: General sociodemographic characteristics, the Psychological Resilience Scale and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HAD-A/HAD-D) was given. Results: The average age of the 671 participants was 44.0±9.0 years. Psychological resilience scores were significantly higher in those who had children, who had worked for 15 years or more, and who had received training about COVID-19 (p<0.05). Depression scores were higher among women and in those who reported having a chronic disease, whose workload increased after the outbreak, and who had physical contact with COVID-positive patients. The anxiety scores were also higher among women and in those whose workload had increased and who had contact with COVID-positive patients (p<0.05). The physicians with scores below the cutoff point on the HAD-D/HAD-A had significantly higher scores on the Psychological Resilience Scale (p<0.05). Discussion: Depression and anxiety levels were found to be significantly lower in physicians with greater psychological resilience. Psychological and social support of all health care workers, especially physicians, is important in the struggle with the pandemic. It is thought that determining the variables related to psychological resilience in health care workers will be a guide for psychosocial services.

Psychosocial Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Healthcare Workers and Initial Areas of Action for Intervention and Prevention—The egePan/VOICE Study

“…Respondents that came into contact with contaminated materials/infected individuals reported higher scores across nearly all COVID-19-associated problem areas than respondents who had no such contact. This has already been shown in similar studies [ 56 ]. Accordingly, it appears critical that frontline healthcare workers should be given priority in relief and support services when treating COVID-19 patients.…”

Assessment of physicians’ resilience level during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Meynaar et al found an increased prevalence of burnout among intensivists, which was inversely correlated to the resilience and work engagement scores 26 . Consistent results were found in Canada, and in Turkey: resilience was an important factor associate with reduced stress and distress during this COVID-19 crisis 27 , 28 .…”

Association of Resilience With Quality of Life and Self-Esteem in Healthcare Workers of Covid-19 Hospital

“…Results of a study conducted by Huang et al show that the resilience level of the medical staff in the radiology departments during the outbreak of COVID-19 was generally low (26). Several studies have been conducted to investigate the association between selected factors and resilience and to evaluate the potential effect of resilience on psychic symptoms among physicians (27,28). Their results show that resilience level of the physicians was generally low.…”