Psychological Symptoms in Health Professionals in Spain After the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Frontiers in Psychology

article

María Dosil¹  Naiara Ozamiz-Etxebarria²  Iratxe Redondo²  Maitane Picaza³  Joana Jaureguizar² 

[1] Department of Research and Diagnostic Methods in Education, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU;Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU;Department of Didactics and School Organization, Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU

关键词: healthcare professionals;    stress;    anxiety;    depression;    post-traumatic stress;    compassion fatigue;    COVID-19;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2020.606121

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Following the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic in March 2020, a state of alarm was decreed in Spain. In this situation, healthcare workers experienced high levels of stress, anxiety and depression due to the heavy workload and working conditions. Although Spain experienced a progressive decline in the number of COVID-19 cases until the last week of May (when a flattening of the case curve was achieved) and the work overload among health workers was substantially reduced, several studies have shown that this work overload is associated with the later emergence of psychological symptoms induced by stress. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of stress, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress and compassionate fatigue in health professionals. The sample consisted of 973 health professionals 16.5% men, 82.9% women, and one non-binary person. The data were collected through an online questionnaire sent to the participants by e-mail. DASS-21 was used to measure anxiety, stress and depression, PCL-C to measure post-traumatic stress and ProQOL -vIV to measure compassion fatigue. In addition, other descriptive variables that could be related to these levels of psychological symptomatology were evaluated. The results reveal that after the work overload experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers report psychological symptoms, post-traumatic stress and compassion fatigue. It is therefore recommended that these professionals be provided with psychological help in order to reduce the emotional impact of COVID-19, and consequently improve their mental health.

【 授权许可】

CC BY