COMPARING MENTAL HEALTH STATUS BETWEEN HEALTH STAFFS WITH AND WITHOUT DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE COVID-19 VIRUS IN HOSPITAL WARDS: A DESCRIPTIVE-ANALYTICAL STUDY

In crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the possibility of psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders increases in high-risk people, especially in the frontline medical staff, causing disruption of their mental health and performance. Therefore, this study was conducted to compare mental health between healthcare staff with and without direct contact with COVID-19 in hospital wards of Urmia City, Iran in 2020.

The present study is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study in which 126 medical staff working in Taleghani Hospital were included using a convenience sampling method. The data collection tool was the DSM-5 Self-Rating Cross-Symptoms Level 1 Questionnaire for adults (over 18 years old people). The collected data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test, and Pearson's correlation test by SPSS 25 statistical software.

The results showed that the highest scores were related to depression scales (22.69 ± 2.19) and sleep disorder (22.06 ± 1.78), and the lowest scores were related to memory scales (1.40 ± 0.03) and suicidal thoughts (2.31±0.01). Among the demographic variables and based on Pearson correlation analysis, there was a statistically significant relationship between depression and gender (P=0.04). Also, there was a significant relationship between depression, aggression, anxiety, psychosomatic, sleep quality, obsession, suicide, and memory in the group of direct and indirect healthcare staff involved with COVID-19 (p<0.05).

Mental health status was unfavorable among the health staff during the pandemic of COVID-19 disease. It is suggested to improve the mental health status of the health staff, especially nurses, who are directly effective in the quality of care and improving the health level of the society, by appropriate planning such as psychotherapy consultations, holding fun and encouraging programs, giving motivational things should be done in different.