Psychosocial Responses To The Outbreak of COVID-19 Infectious Disease Among Health Care Staff in a Referral Hospital in South of Iran

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most stressful situations, worldwide in the twenty first century, and healthcare providers, at the frontline of this crisis, have been exposed to high viral loads through their patients. Therefore, in addition to being at risk of contracting the virus they have also been under mental distress. In this study, we assessed how the healthcare providers in Shohadaye-Khalije-Fars hospital, located in Bushehr, Iran, psychosocially reacted to this outbreak and what were their coping mechanisms. Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study which was conducted between March and July 2020. The population were 177 of the providers and staffs in infectious disease and general medicine wards which were selected via simple random sampling method. The online survey was carried out using GHQ-28 mental health and COPE coping skills questionnaires. Results: showed that the mean score of mental health symptoms in female participants (mean=28.65 and standard deviation=12.71) were higher than in male participants (mean=23.97 and standard deviation=10.073), which was statistically significant. Using Chi-square test, there was an outstanding correlation between coping methods and gender. The majority of female participants made use of emotional coping mechanisms (70 out of 113 women) while male participants employed problem-oriented techniques (36 out of 64 men). The results of Pearson’s correlation coefficient test revealed that emotion focused and avoidance oriented coping skills were significantly associated with the incidence of mental health illnesses and presentation of anxiety symptoms. Conclusion: The utilization of emotion-oriented and avoidant–oriented coping skills by the healthcare providers and ward staffs aggravated their anxiety symptoms and increased mental health problems in this population during the COVID-19 pandemic. On that account, offering workshops and trainings in regards with coping skills will improve their ability to understand their emotions, detect signs of anxiety early and learn how to manage them in unpredictable stressful situations.