Prevalence of Stress, Anxiety, and Depression among Treatment Staff of Malayer City Hospitals during COVID-19; a Cross-sectional Study

Job-related stresses and their causes are among the most important issues in psychology and psychiatry and have attracted the attention of many researchers. Meanwhile, the health of treatment staff is one of the most critical fields because of the nature of their work. Currently, due to the outbreak of a type of coronavirus, mental health of treatment staff, as a high-risk group, requires more attention than before. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of stress, anxiety and depression among medical staff when faced with the crisis of coronavirus pandemic.

This cross-sectional study was performed in April 2020 in order to measure stress, anxiety, and depression among 106 treatment staff members of Dr. Gharazi and Imam Hossein Hospitals in Malayer city at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data collection tool was a standardized 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) questionnaire for evaluation of stress, anxiety, and depression.

The study population consisted of 106 medical staff members, 0.9% of which were subspecialty physicians, 8.5% were specialist physicians, 4.7% were professional physicians, and 80.2% were nurses. The findings showed that, 26.4% of the treatment staff had very severe stress, 80.2% of them had very severe anxiety, while 43.4% had very severe depression. By examining the relationship between individual characteristics and the parameters of stress, anxiety and depression, and considering the significance of relationships, there was no significant relationship between individual characteristics and the mentioned disorders.

According to the findings of the present study, the prevalence of stress, anxiety, and depression among the treatment staff during the COVID-19 pandemic was very high. This result shows the importance of timely psychological policy-making and interventions to promote the mental health of the staff in crises. Through using preventive strategies, it is possible to reduce the occurrence of psychological problems among medical staff and take steps to maintain and improve the quality of their mental health and their professional ability.