Online Balint Group Work Versus Pharmacotherapy in Treatment of Coronavirus Anxiety in Healthcare Workers in Iran: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: An increase in symptoms of anxiety is already being reported in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. Objectives: We aimed to compare the effectiveness of Balint group work with pharmacotherapy in coronavirus related anxiety among healthcare workers (HCWs) in Iran. Methods: In This pilot clinical trial, after passing a phone screening procedure by a psychiatrist, subjects were quasi-randomly assigned to Balint (8 sixty-minute online sessions) or pharmacotherapy (Sertraline) groups. Both groups were asked to fill two questionnaires, including the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS) and Connor-Davidson resilience scale (CD-RISC), at the beginning and the end of the 4-week intervention period. Results: A total of 45 HCWs enrolled in this study. The results showed a significant difference between the post-test and pre-test scores of both groups in the total scores of anxiety and its subcomponents (p≤0.001). There was no significant difference between the effectiveness of the two interventions on anxiety (p=0.52). Both interventions had a significant effect on the subjects' resilience and its subscales (p≤0.05) except for positive acceptance change. The spiritual influences domain had a significantly higher increase in the pharmacotherapy group (P=0.031). Conclusions: We showed Balint group work maybe can better to pharmacotherapy with Sertraline in management of COVID-19 related anxiety and boosting resilience in healthcare workers.