Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast Iran

Background. Healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic played an effective role in providing preventive and curative measures. Scientific evidence confirmed that the outbreak of this disease has caused numerous psychological problems such as pre- and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiet...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Alireza Malakoutikhah, Leila Ahmadi Lari, Pooya Baharloo, Rasmieh Al-Amer, Mohamed Alnaiem, Hossein Khaluei, Mahlagha Dehghan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024-01-01
Series:Mental Illness
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/2335969
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1832548323394846720
author Alireza Malakoutikhah
Leila Ahmadi Lari
Pooya Baharloo
Rasmieh Al-Amer
Mohamed Alnaiem
Hossein Khaluei
Mahlagha Dehghan
author_facet Alireza Malakoutikhah
Leila Ahmadi Lari
Pooya Baharloo
Rasmieh Al-Amer
Mohamed Alnaiem
Hossein Khaluei
Mahlagha Dehghan
author_sort Alireza Malakoutikhah
collection DOAJ
description Background. Healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic played an effective role in providing preventive and curative measures. Scientific evidence confirmed that the outbreak of this disease has caused numerous psychological problems such as pre- and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and anger at a global level. This study is aimed at investigating the general health of healthcare workers and its relationship with anxiety, anger, and posttraumatic stress disorder during the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods. This research was a cross-sectional study conducted on 455 healthcare workers of four teaching hospitals in Kerman, southeast of Iran. The convenience sampling method was used. The research tools included the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the trait anxiety section of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the trait anger section of Trait-State Anger Expression Inventory 2 (STAXI-2). Data analysis was done in IBM SPSS Statistics version 25 and using Pearson’s correlation tests, independent t-test, ANOVA, and multivariate linear regression. Results. 28.1% (n=128) of the participants had mental health disorders. The mean score of anxiety was 43.99±9.24 which was at moderate to high level of anxiety. The mean score of anger was 18.65±5.72 which was at the moderate level. The mean score of PTSD was 34.77±15.24 which was less than the midpoint of the questionnaire, i.e., the score of 44. The results of the multiple linear regression model that showed anxiety, anger, gender, and hospital were predictors of mental health (P<0.05). Conclusion. The results of the present study showed that about a quarter of the healthcare workers faced with the COVID-19 pandemic had mental health disorders and suffered from moderate to high anxiety, moderate anger, and PTSD. It was also observed in this study that there was a weak to moderate significant correlation between general health and anxiety, anger, and PTSD in healthcare workers. So, healthcare workers need a lot of social and psychological support.
format Article
id doaj-art-4cc50793e91c417da37897ce2b6c423a
institution Kabale University
issn 2036-7465
language English
publishDate 2024-01-01
publisher Wiley
record_format Article
series Mental Illness
spelling doaj-art-4cc50793e91c417da37897ce2b6c423a2025-02-03T06:14:54ZengWileyMental Illness2036-74652024-01-01202410.1155/2024/2335969Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast IranAlireza Malakoutikhah0Leila Ahmadi Lari1Pooya Baharloo2Rasmieh Al-Amer3Mohamed Alnaiem4Hossein Khaluei5Mahlagha Dehghan6Nursing Research CenterDepartment of Critical Care NursingClinical Research Development UnitSchool of NursingMental Health ServicesSchool of Nursing and MidwiferyNursing Research CenterBackground. Healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic played an effective role in providing preventive and curative measures. Scientific evidence confirmed that the outbreak of this disease has caused numerous psychological problems such as pre- and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, and anger at a global level. This study is aimed at investigating the general health of healthcare workers and its relationship with anxiety, anger, and posttraumatic stress disorder during the outbreak of COVID-19. Methods. This research was a cross-sectional study conducted on 455 healthcare workers of four teaching hospitals in Kerman, southeast of Iran. The convenience sampling method was used. The research tools included the 12-Item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the trait anxiety section of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and the trait anger section of Trait-State Anger Expression Inventory 2 (STAXI-2). Data analysis was done in IBM SPSS Statistics version 25 and using Pearson’s correlation tests, independent t-test, ANOVA, and multivariate linear regression. Results. 28.1% (n=128) of the participants had mental health disorders. The mean score of anxiety was 43.99±9.24 which was at moderate to high level of anxiety. The mean score of anger was 18.65±5.72 which was at the moderate level. The mean score of PTSD was 34.77±15.24 which was less than the midpoint of the questionnaire, i.e., the score of 44. The results of the multiple linear regression model that showed anxiety, anger, gender, and hospital were predictors of mental health (P<0.05). Conclusion. The results of the present study showed that about a quarter of the healthcare workers faced with the COVID-19 pandemic had mental health disorders and suffered from moderate to high anxiety, moderate anger, and PTSD. It was also observed in this study that there was a weak to moderate significant correlation between general health and anxiety, anger, and PTSD in healthcare workers. So, healthcare workers need a lot of social and psychological support.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/2335969
spellingShingle Alireza Malakoutikhah
Leila Ahmadi Lari
Pooya Baharloo
Rasmieh Al-Amer
Mohamed Alnaiem
Hossein Khaluei
Mahlagha Dehghan
Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast Iran
Mental Illness
title Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast Iran
title_full Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast Iran
title_fullStr Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast Iran
title_full_unstemmed Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast Iran
title_short Healthcare Workers’ General Health and Its Relation with Anxiety, Anger, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder during COVID-19 Outbreak in Southeast Iran
title_sort healthcare workers general health and its relation with anxiety anger and posttraumatic stress disorder during covid 19 outbreak in southeast iran
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2024/2335969
work_keys_str_mv AT alirezamalakoutikhah healthcareworkersgeneralhealthanditsrelationwithanxietyangerandposttraumaticstressdisorderduringcovid19outbreakinsoutheastiran
AT leilaahmadilari healthcareworkersgeneralhealthanditsrelationwithanxietyangerandposttraumaticstressdisorderduringcovid19outbreakinsoutheastiran
AT pooyabaharloo healthcareworkersgeneralhealthanditsrelationwithanxietyangerandposttraumaticstressdisorderduringcovid19outbreakinsoutheastiran
AT rasmiehalamer healthcareworkersgeneralhealthanditsrelationwithanxietyangerandposttraumaticstressdisorderduringcovid19outbreakinsoutheastiran
AT mohamedalnaiem healthcareworkersgeneralhealthanditsrelationwithanxietyangerandposttraumaticstressdisorderduringcovid19outbreakinsoutheastiran
AT hosseinkhaluei healthcareworkersgeneralhealthanditsrelationwithanxietyangerandposttraumaticstressdisorderduringcovid19outbreakinsoutheastiran
AT mahlaghadehghan healthcareworkersgeneralhealthanditsrelationwithanxietyangerandposttraumaticstressdisorderduringcovid19outbreakinsoutheastiran