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

(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.

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.

(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.