Comparison of the Psychological Impact of COVID-19 on Self-Employed Private Healthcare Workers with Respect to Employed Public Healthcare Workers: Three-Wave Study during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spain.

(1) Background: Coronavirus disease, also called COVID-19, is a worldwide pandemic with a major impact on all aspects of the individual (health status, psychological, and economic aspects, among others). The perception of health professionals in this situation has been influenced by their economic and psychosocial situations. On the economic level, self-employed workers have no state subsidies, with the added disadvantage of not having sufficient means to cope with contagion. This could potentially have an impact on their health and indirectly on their family members, creating additional stress. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences in the level of anxiety of health professionals working in private practice compared to healthcare workers working in public institutions during the first three waves of COVID-19. (2) Methods: A cohort study on 517 subjects comparing anxiety between a group of health workers and a group of health professionals working in the public sector at three key moments during the pandemic was performed. (3) Results: Statistically significant differences were found between self-employed private health professionals compared to those working as public health workers. The perception of impact was worse in the self-employed; however, a higher level of anxiety was evident in public employees in all assessed domains (cognitive, physiological, and motor, p = 0.001). (4) Conclusions: There were significant changes when comparing the first phase between both groups; employed public healthcare workers manifested a sense of lower risk of COVID-19 contagion than privately employed professionals, who had a higher level of anxiety. In the second and third waves, negative feelings improved for both groups, and the fear of showing anxiety to the patient decreased over the course of the waves.

Anxiety and Perceived Risk in Red Cross Volunteer Personnel Facing the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.

In the current situation of sanitary emergencies, humanitarian organizations and their volunteers are playing an important role in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A study is proposed that includes a network of volunteers who perform humanitarian activities during the COVID-19 pandemic to assess anxiety, perceived risk, and response behaviors and to explore their relationship with sociodemographic variables. For data collection, an online questionnaire was developed through the Google Forms® platform, where the perceived risk, anxiety, and behavioral responses of the general population to the Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic were assessed. The survey presented is a modified version of that survey adapted for COVID-19. This adaptation was endorsed by an experts committee made up of the health chief of the Ecuadorian Red Cross, the focus point of operations from the International Federation of the Red Cross in Ecuador, and a member from the Health Unit of the Americas Regional Office of the International Federation of the Red Cross. A significant relationship has been shown between the job situation and perceived risk and anxiety, being the staff who worked full time away from home, which was exposed to greater risk and anxiety. Both perceived risk and perceived anxiety are very high (according to a 5-point Likert scale). Knowing these data from this first-line personnel will allow adopting measures that could be beneficial for stress management and, therefore, contribute to the well-being and support of these humanitarian and volunteer organizations in the worldwide response to COVID-1 9.

Assessment of the Anxiety Level of Andalusian Podiatrists during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Increase Phase.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is caused by SARS-CoV-2 and represents the causative agent of a potentially fatal disease that is of great global public health concern. COVID-19 is a respiratory disease produced by the coronavirus family. The World Health Organization declared the disease a pandemic on 11 March 2020. Podiatrists are in a peculiar situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic: that of a health professional aspect and the singularity that most of them practise as self-employed workers. The aim of the study is to evaluate in a group of podiatrists, working at a national level, their knowledge, perception and degree of anxiety related to the COVID-19 pandemic via the use of a questionnaire specifically developed to this end in the initial phase of the pandemic. We employed a transversal descriptive study with 302 participants, with a purposive sampling technique. The degree of perception and knowledge of the podiatrists about COVID-19 was analysed as well as the cognitive impact of the situation of confinement. The results showed that the podiatrists perceive this situation as serious at the economic and health level, that they have a thorough knowledge of the disease and that they are in a moderate to severe percentile of anxiety. Additionally, 76.2% cancelled their usual work. The COVID-19 pandemic is negatively perceived by this group of podiatrists at the personal, professional, health and economic level, with even a state of anxiety being produced.