The psychological resilience and perceived stress of the frontline heroes in the pandemic in Turkey: A descriptive study of the COVID-19 outbreak-mutations-normalization triad.

AIM: To determine the psychological resilience and perceived stress levels of healthcare workers in COVID-19 intensive care units. METHODS: The study was conducted with 418 physicians and nurses in Turkey between July and August 2020. The data were collected with an online survey consisting of a personal information form, the Brief Resilience Scale, and the Perceived Stress Scale. RESULTS: The study sample comprised 32.5% physicians and 67.5% nurses. Fear of transmission of COVID-19 from the patients in their care was stated by 92.6% of the physicians and 95.7% of the nurses. Almost all of the participants (99.3%) were afraid of transmitting COVID-19 to their families. The psychological resilience level of the physicians (18.42 ± 2.25) participating in the study was higher than that of the nurses (17.88 ± 2.00), and the perceived stress level was lower. It was determined that most physicians and nurses strengthened their team/work friendship bonds during the pandemic, but the motivation to work decreased. CONCLUSION: The study results suggest that frontline intensive care workers should be closely monitored as a high-risk group for psychological problems. The provision of better personal protective equipment, together with on-going monitoring and provision of psychological support, and strong family support will increase the resilience of frontline healthcare workers.

Factors associated with antenatal depression during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV2) pandemic: A cross-sectional study in a cohort of Turkish pregnant women.

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on antenatal depression in Turkish pregnant women. DESIGN AND METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from 497 pregnant women between May and July 2020 using the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) to determine the effect of obstetrics history, fear of hospitalization, concerns about the pandemic, birth, and the health of both mother and infant, on antenatal depression during the COVID-19 outbreak in Turkey. FINDINGS: The general EDS mean score of the total group was determined as mean 13.70 ± 6.22, which was higher than the critical cutoff point of 13. According to the multiple linear regression model applied in the study, the best predictive variables for the mean EDS score were determined to be concerned about completing a healthy pregnancy (r = -0.45), social media and news programs related to COVID-19 increasing levels of concern (r = -0.31), fear of hospitalization as the birth approaches (r = -0.45), having bad dreams during the COVID-19 pandemic (r = -0.41), the request for an elective cesarean delivery because of fear of catching COVID-19 (r = -0.40), fear of breastfeeding the infant (r = -0.45), and concerns that their own health would be negatively affected because of the pandemic (r = - 0.39), and these variables affected the mean EDS score negatively (total variance 40.5%, R = 0.642). PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The COVID-19 pandemic has created an urgent need to implement specific antenatal programs to promote the psychological health of pregnant women and reduce antenatal depression during this or similar crises.

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on community mental health: A psychometric and prevalence study in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19, which is characterised by life-threatening symptoms, difficulty in breathing, and pneumonia symptoms and requires global emergency intervention, may cause psychological problems such as phobia, fear and anxiety. This study aims to examine the psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) in Turkish people and to determine the level of fear of COVID-19 among Turkish people. METHODS: The research was carried out between March and April 2020. A Personal Information Form and the FCV-19S were used to collect the research data. In the validity and reliability stage, 84 people were contacted randomly for data collection. After the validity and reliability analyses of the scale, a total of 431 Turkish people volunteered to participate in the study and answered the questions in the online questionnaire form using a convenience and snowball sampling method. Confirmatory factor analysis, item-total correlation and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were calculated for psychometric evaluation. Bivariate analysis was applied to determine the level of fear of COVID-19. RESULTS: Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.89, which is stated to have high reliability. FCV-19S scores of participants were determined to be 21.47 ± 6.28. FCV-19S scores of females were determined as 20.48 ± 6.33 and FCV-19S scores of males were determined as 19.78 ± 7.34 according to the bivariate analysis (p < .05). Age, marital status, having children and living alone or with others, tobacco use and anxiety about going to the hospital during the pandemic did not affect on fear of COVID-19 (p > .05). Particularly being female, the presence of chronic disease requiring long-term medication and rarely taking protective measures recommended by the Ministry of Health and having a chronic disease had a significant effect on higher levels of fear of COVID-19 (p < .05). CONCLUSION: The FCV-19S is a valid and reliable tool for determining the fear of COVID-19. It was found that the fear level of COVID-19 infection was high in Turkish people.