Mental Health Adverse Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Care Workers in North West Ethiopia: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study

• Main Authors: Asnakew S, Amha H, Kassew T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2021-05-01
• Series: Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
• Subjects: depression; anxiety; stress; dass-21; covid-19
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/mental-health-adverse-effects-of-covid-19-pandemic-on-health-care-work-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-NDT

Sintayehu Asnakew,1 Haile Amha,2 Tilahun Kassew3 1Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, College of Health Science, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia; 2Departments of Psychiatry, College of Health Science, Debre Markos University, Debre Markos, Ethiopia; 3Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine and Health Science, University of Gondar, Gondar, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Sintayehu AsnakewDebre Tabor University, PO Box: 272, Debre Tabor, EthiopiaTel [phone]Email [e-mail]: The coronavirus has affected nearly every aspect of our lives. Most importantly the health-care workers (HCWs) are under insurmountable psychological pressures which lead them to various mental health problems, such as anxiety, stress, and depression.Objective: This study aimed to assess mental health adverse effects of COVID-19 pandemic on health-care workers in North West Ethiopia 2020.Materials and Methods: Institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted. A simple random sampling technique was applied and 419 participants completed the questionnaire. Mental health adverse effects were measured using the depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS-21). Data were entered into Epi data version 4.4.2 then exported to SPSS version 24 for analysis. Descriptive, bivariate, and multivariate binary logistic regressions with odds ratios and 95% confidence interval were employed. The level of significance of association was determined at a p-value < 0.05.Results: Prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress in this study was 58.2%, 64.7%, and 63.7%, respectively Those who had a medical illness, and mental illness, contact with confirmed COVID-19 pts, and poor social support showed a statistically significant association with depression. Female sex, participants who had families with chronic illness, had contact with confirmed COVID-19 case and poor social support had statistically significant association with anxiety, whereas participants who had families with chronic illness had contact with confirmed COVID-19 cases, and those participants who had poor social support were predictors of stress during COVID-19 pandemic.Conclusion: The magnitudes of mental health problems were higher and the concerned body should emphasize the continuous assessment of the mental health of health-care workers during this pandemic.Keywords: depression, anxiety, stress, DASS-21, COVID-19