The examination of the relationship between stress coping styles and somatization levels of employees during covid 19 outbreak

The COVID 19 pandemic continues to affect our country as an important public health problem that also affects the whole world. It is observed that the changing living conditions with the epidemic have effects on the physical and mental health of individuals. In this direction, it is thought that examining the changing psychosocial processes of the society is important in terms of structuring preventive and protective services. In this study, the relationship between somatization symptoms and stress coping styles in individuals working during the COVID 19 pandemic was examined. Within the scope of the study, the data of 423 participants who responded to the online questionnaires created by the researcher were evaluated. The socio-demographic information form, the Somatization Scale and the Styles of Coping with Stress Scale were administered to the participants. In the study, somatization and sub-scales of coping styles were compared in terms of gender, age group, education level and income level. In addition, the relationship between the sub-dimensions of somatization and coping styles was examined. Based on the findings, somatization scores in women are significantly higher than in men. In addition, the helpless and submissive approach sub-scales were found as higher in women compared to men. According to the age variable, the participants aged 26-35 had the highest self-confident approach and helpless approach scores. According to the income level, the somatization scores of the low-income participants were significantly higher. High-income participants, on the other hand, have higher self-confident approach scores. When the relationship between of somatization and coping styles subscales is examined, It was found that the self-confident approach and the optimistic approach are negative; helpless approach are positively and significantly correlated with somatization. When the variables predicting somatization are examined, being a woman, higher helpless approach scores and lower optimistic approach scores significantly affect somatization scores. Research findings suggest that employees during the outbreak are at-risk group in terms of developing somatization symptoms due to both work-related stress and the stress of the COVID 19 pandemic process,. Thus, preventive and protective studies can be carried out for these individuals with further studies.