Research of the relationship between anxiety and depression level of healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic period

A virus called SARS-Cov-2 due to its similarity with the SARS virus, which was seen in the Wuhan region of China in December 2019, started in this region and turned into a pandemic by taking the effect of the whole world. The first-hand addressees of the epidemic created by this virus, which was later known as Covid-19, were healthcare workers in the field. Health workers are a group that is important to focus on, as they constitute the most important occupational group in the fight against the epidemic. It is very likely that this occupational group will be dragged into depression and anxiety due to the epidemic. This study aims to examine the depression, anxiety, and the relationship between depression and anxiety of health workers, who are the group that should be most sensitive during the epidemic period, together with other variables. Anxiety and depression of health workers were examined together with variables such as gender, marital status, salary, time spent in the profession, branch, financial loss caused by the epidemic, compulsory change in the form of accommodation due to the epidemic, and whether there was a previous diagnosis of psychological disorder. The research was carried out with the participation of 338 participants randomly from Istanbul. Data were collected from the participants by means of Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and personal information form. The data were analyzed with the help of the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS). As a result of the analysis of the data obtained, a positive and significant relationship was found between the depression and anxiety of the health workers in the field during the pandemic period. Both depression and anxiety scores of healthcare workers who were single, childless, experienced financial loss due to the epidemic and had to change their living spaces due to the epidemic were found to be higher than the other participants.