Mental distress among female physicians working in occupational health activities during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

IntroductionDepression, anxiety and stress are mental disorders that impact the quality of life of workers. Depression has symptoms of inertia, anhedonia, dysphoria, lack of interest/involvement, self-depreciation, devaluation of life and discouragement. Anxiety is characterized by excitation of the autonomous nervous system, musculoskeletal effects, situational anxiety, subjective anxiety, and experiences. The clinical stress has difficulty to relax, nervous excitement, easy perturbation/agitation and irritability/exaggerated reaction and impatience. This study aims to present the prevalence of depressive symptoms, anxiety and stress among female physicians who worked in Occupational Health activities during the COVID-19 pandemic.Materials & MethodsDescriptive cross-sectional study carried out in Brazil during Sep-Nov 2020. Participants were invited through social networks, using the snowball method. The questionnaire was available on a website requesting data about sociodemographic characteristics, education, and occupational aspects and the short version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21).Results and ConclusionsAmong the 249 female participants, the mean age was 46.3 years (sd 13.5). Most had a partner (64.2%), reported skin color as white (81.9%) and lived in the Brazilian Southeast region (64.6%). The average time since graduation was 12.1 years (sd 8.6). Most participants had professional activities in private sector companies (58.2%) and reported working 40 to 59 hours per week (41.3%). The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 48.6%, with 39.5% being severe or very severe, 31.4% moderate and 28.9% mild. Regarding anxiety, the prevalence was 36.5%, with 47.1% severe or very severe, 35.1% moderate and 17.6% mild. Finally, in relation to stress, its prevalence was 54.2%, with 39.9% severe or very severe, 29.6% moderate and 30.4% mild. Understanding the profile of mental disorders among medical workers is important to design prevention and health promotion strategies for this population, in order to develop quality of life, well-being and productivity.