Use of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) Questionnaire to Assess Levels of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress in Healthcare and Administrative Staff in 5 Oncology Institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina During the 2020 COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND Providing oncology services during a pandemic can contribute to mental health challenges among healthcare workers. The present study aimed to evaluate the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress in healthcare and administrative staff in 5 oncology institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2020 during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) questionnaire. MATERIAL AND METHODS A cross-sectional observational study enrolled 175 healthcare and administrative workers from 5 oncology institutions in BiH during December 2020. Data were collected using a questionnaire that captured general information about the participants and a DASS-21 questionnaire. RESULTS Statistical analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress (P=0.003, P=0.011, and P=0.022, respectively) among participants with comorbidities connected with increased risk of severe illness caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) compared with participants without comorbidities. There was also a statistically significant difference in the levels of stress among participants from different cities (P=0.031). Supplement intake and educational level were significantly related (P=0.012). High levels of stress and anxiety were accompanied by high levels of depression among participants (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS The findings from the present study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has had an effect on depression, anxiety, and stress levels in oncology staff in BiH. Monitoring these levels and providing interventions and support to oncology staff are increasingly important for their wellbeing and retention at a time of global crisis in healthcare.

COVID 19 no Tocantins: perspectiva da educação permanente em saúde e da gestão do trabalho

Trata da Educação permanente em tempo de pandemia no Estado do Tocantins.

Distressed doctors: a narrative and historical study of work-related mental discomfort among practising physicians.

This article explores the complexity of mental distress among physicians, as portrayed in two literary narratives: John Berger and Jean Mohr's A Fortunate Man: The Story of a Country Doctor (1967) and Pia Dellson's Väggen: En utbränd psykiaters noteringar (2015, 'The Wall: Notes by a Burnt-Out Psychiatrist'). Departing from a historical understanding of medical practice, the article seeks to discuss whether some of the noted similarities and differences in the two narratives could be related to changes appearing over time in the role model of the medical encounter. As the two narratives provide illustrative descriptions of the difficulties experienced by doctors suffering from mental discomfort, they also call for a greater awareness among medical practitioners of the sociological terms of doctoring. Practising a person-centred, rather than patient-centred, care might be part of such awareness and is discussed as a possible protective strategy for physicians at risk of work-related mental distress.

[On Conditioned Rats and Stressed Workmen : Rudolf Baumann and the Discourse About Stress and Environment in the GDR]. / Von konditionierten Ratten und gestressten Werktätigen : Rudolf Baumann und der Stress- und Umweltdiskurs in der DDR.

The emergence of cardiovascular diseases from stress, i.e. psychosocial pressure, was a constitutive element in the international medical discourse of the 1960s and 1970s. This article describes an East German variant of the stress discourse, developed by Rudolf Baumann and his associates at the Institute for cortico-visceral pathology and therapy in Berlin-Buch. The group sought to develop a genuinely materialist approach to the problem of psychosocially caused diseases, as well as ways of therapy and prevention suited to a socialist health system. At the same time, it was constantly drawing on Western concepts and practices. By examining this project in international context, congruences and differences between Eastern and Western perceptions of the stressful effects of industrial society are worked out. Furthermore, the article discusses that the concept of stress implied ambitious programs for social prevention and therapy, the realization of which in both political systems was constrained by the social reality.