Evaluation of mood disorders in healthcare workers working in COVID-19 services/polyclinics and their first-degree relatives

Authors : Burak Şahin, Togay Evrin, Ahmet Gül, Ömer Jaradat, Burak Katipoğlu, Zafer Dolu

Pages : 278-282

Doi:10.38053/acmj.1652714

View : 75 | Download : 89

Publication Date : 2025-05-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Aims: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the entire world; however, certain individuals and groups have been affected more significantly or are at a higher risk. Among these groups are medical workers, who face unique challenges. In addition to the physical consequences of the pandemic, there have been notable psychological effects. This study aims to examine the prevalence of emotional disorders in healthcare personnel working in COVID-19 services and polyclinics, as well as in their first-degree relatives. Methods: This study was conducted in 2022 on COVID-19 Service Personnel at Ufuk University Hospital and their firstdegree relatives. It included doctors, nurses, and auxiliary medical personnel who worked in either COVID-19 services or polyclinics, along with their non-medical first-degree relatives. In total, 375 participants were surveyed. The survey consisted of three sections: socio-demographic information, the short symptom inventory, and the short form for Burnout scale. The Mann-Whitney U test and the Kruskal-Wallis test were utilized for data analysis, with a p-value of <0.05 considered statistically significant. Results: The scores for somatization, obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS), interpersonal sensitivity (IS), depression, anxiety, hostility, phobic anxiety (PA), paranoid ideation (PI), psychoticism, additional items (AI), sum of symptoms (SS), discomfort severity index (DSI), symptom discomfort index (SDI), and Burnout Scale were significantly higher among doctors compared to other groups. Auxiliary medical workers had the second highest scores, followed by nurses, while the non-medical control group had significantly lower scores than all medical personnel groups. It was observed that psychiatric symptoms and burnout were significantly higher among medical workers at all levels compared to their relatives in other professions. Conclusion: Our study concludes that the pandemic has psychologically affected medical workers more than individuals in other professions, with doctors being the most affected group.
Keywords : Pandemi, COVID-19, Sağlık Çalışanı, Anksiyete, Depresyon

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