Fear and anxiety level and affecting factors created by the coronavirus pandemic on healthcare workers

Introduction: The fact that the Coronavirus Pandemic, which emerged in December 2019 and spread all over the world, was full of uncertainties and led to bad clinical pictures, caused fear and similar mental problems in the society. At this stage, it is a predictable result that healthcare professionals fighting in the front line experience fear and anxiety. The aim of the study was to determine the level of fear and anxiety developed by healthcare professionals at Aydın Adnan Menderes University Hospital due to Covid-19 and the factors affecting it. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 2141 healthcare professionals working at Aydın Adnan Menderes University Hospital between April 15, 2021 and June 30, 2021. With the power analysis, it was aimed to include 326 people in the study, 391 people were reached between the dates of the study. In addition to collecting sociodemographic data, FCV-19S, CAS and STAI-T were applied to the participants. The data were analyzed with the SPSS 22.0 package program. Chi-square test for categorical variables, Mann Whitney U test for numerical variables and Spearman Correlation analysis for relationship analysis were used to compare groups. In addition, regression analysis was used to exclude confounders. The ethics committee approvals required for the study were obtained from the Ethics Committee of Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Medicine Non-Invasive Clinical Research. Results: Of the 391 participants who participated in the study, 63.4% (n=248) were female and the mean age was 35.2±9.2 years. Fear level was found to be high in 73.4% (n=287) of the participants. In addition, %98.7 (n=386) patients had a low level of anxiety related to Covid-19. The number of people with high pre-existing anxiety level was 223 (%57.0). It was observed that the level of fear increased as the grief, time spent in the profession and the pre-existing anxiety level increased. Twenty-four variables that were significant in the pairwise analyzes were included in the regression analysis. The level of fear of Covid-19 is 0.29 times higher in male gender compared to female gender, 14.35 times higher in those working at other departments compared to those working in Basic Medical Sciences, 2.39 times higher in those without Covid symptoms compared to those with Covid symptoms, 5.74 times higher in those with fear of experiencing Covid-19 severely compared to those without this fear, and 1.06 times higher in those with high anxiety level compared to those without high anxiety. Conclusion: Pure fear of Covid-19 was detected in female gender, in those working at departments other than Basic Medical Sciences, in those who experienced Covid symptoms, in those who explained their fear/stress/anxiety with the fear of having a severe illness, and in those who scored high on the Spielberger Trait Anxiety Scale. Improving the working conditions of groups with high levels of fear in such processes and providing psychological support to these groups will prevent societies from being seriously affected by the pandemic process. In order to eliminate the difficulties that may be experienced in similar situations as soon as possible, conducting and developing studies at the early stages will help eliminate difficulties that may be experienced in similar situations and will help overcome the process with the least damage. Keywords: Fear of Covid-19, Pandemic, Healthcare Workers, Coronavirus