Psychological Assessment of Health-Care Workers Working during COVID-19 Pandemic Condition in Bangladesh

ABSTRACT

The study was aimed to assess the psychological aspects and relevant factors of the health-care workers (HCWs) working in COVID 19 pandemic condition in Bangladesh. This online cross-sectional survey was conducted from different tertiary, secondary and primary hospitals in Bangladesh. Eligible 638 HCWs who were directly involved in the caring of confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were recruited in this study. The mental health was assessed by the Patient Health Questionnare-9 (PHQ-9), Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS). High frequency of depression 536(84.0%), anxiety 386(60.5%) and insomnia 302(47.3%) was found among the HCWs, which were significantly higher in physicians (p<0.001) than nurses. Moderate to severe depression was significantly higher in female, whereas minimal to mild depression was significant in male HCWs (p=0.014). Symptoms of depression (p<0.001), anxiety (p<0.001) and insomnia (p=0.004) were significantly higher among the HCWs of primary and secondary compared to the tertiary level. The HCWs developed psychological trauma due to family health (45.3%) and contagious disease property (66.6%). After adjusting confounders, multivariable logistic regression analysis showed that physicians and HCWs of secondary hospital had significant symptoms of severe depression (OR=2.95, 95% CI=0.50-17.24;p<0.001), anxiety (OR=2.64, 95% CI=0.80-8.72;p<0.001) and insomnia (OR=2.67, 95% CI=1.23-5.84;p=0.018);whereas female HCWs had more risk of developing symptoms of severe insomnia (OR= 1.84;95% CI=1.23-2.75;p=0.003). High rate of depression, anxiety and insomnia was found among HCWs working in the COVID-19 pandemic condition in this survey.