Factors Affecting the Psychological Well-Being of Health Care Workers During the COVID-19 Crisis.

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are a group that especially suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to facing the stress of dealing with patients and social isolation, they had to worry about being infected themselves and transmitting the infection to their families. This study evaluated the fear, anxiety, and depression experienced by HCWs during the COVID-19 crisis. Subjects and Methods: The sample size was 541 HCWs. Data collection was done using an online validated questionnaire through Google Docs, sent to HCWs by email and WhatsApp groups. We assessed depression and anxiety with the 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4), while evaluating fear with the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S). Results: A statistically significant difference was found in the perception of fear between married and unmarried people, and between those with colleagues who had died from COVID-19 infection and those without. There was a significant relation between HCWs' anxiety and a history of death from COVID-19 infection, either of friends or of close relatives. The prevalence of depression was 18.48% in the tested sample of HCWs. Participants who had close relatives or friends infected with COVID-19 showed a significantly higher degree of depression. The age group <30 and those working 20 to 30 hours weekly showed higher degrees of anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Sociodemographic variables such as age, marital status, and working area had a significant impact on the mental and psychological health of HCWs during the COVID-19 crisis. HCWs who lost patients due to COVID-19 had a significantly higher prevalence of fear, depression, and anxiety.

Stigma in Psychiatry: Impact of a Virtual and Traditional Psychiatry Clerkship on Medical Student Attitudes.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to assess the change in medical students' attitudes towards psychiatry following a virtual clerkship experience compared to a traditional clerkship experience. METHOD: Ninety-seven medical students from the University of Ottawa were assessed pre- and post-clerkship on the ATP-30 (Attitudes Towards Psychiatry-30) measure. Cohorts of students were categorized as pre-COVID or during-COVID depending on when and how they experienced their clerkship (traditional or virtual). The total student response rate was approximately 48%. A quasi-experimental design was implemented, and non-parametric statistics were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Medical students' overall attitudes towards psychiatry improved from pre- to post-clerkship, with the type of clerkship experience (traditional or virtual) having no significant impact on the magnitude to which attitudes improved. CONCLUSION: Implementation of a virtual clerkship in psychiatry did not deteriorate medical student attitudes towards psychiatry as a specialty, with both the traditional and virtual clerkship program enhancing students' attitudes towards psychiatry favorably.