From Recession to Depression? Prevalence and Correlates of Depression, Anxiety, Traumatic Stress and Burnout in Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Greece: A Multi-Center, Cross-Sectional Study
Open accessAbstract
COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to adversely affect the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs). The public healthcare system in Greece was already facing serious challenges at the outset of the outbreak following years of austerity and an escalating refugee crisis. The multi-center, cross-sectional study aims to assess the levels and associated risk factors of anxiety, depression, traumatic stress and burnout of frontline staff in Greece. A total of 464 HCWs in six reference hospitals completed a self-administered questionnaire comprising of sociodemographic and work-related information and psychometric scales. The proportion of HCWs with symptoms of moderate/severe depression, anxiety and traumatic stress were 30%, 25% and 33% respectively. Burnout levels were particularly high with 65% of respondents scoring moderate/severe in Emotional Exhaustion, 92% severe in Depersonalization and 51% low/moderate in Personal Accomplishment. Predictive factors of adverse psychological outcomes included fear, perceived stress, risk of infection, lack of protective equipment and low social support. The psychological burden associated with Covid-19 in healthcare professionals in Greece is considerable with more than half experiencing at least mild mental health difficulties. Findings signal the need for immediate organizational and individually tailored interventions to enhance resilience and support wellbeing under pandemic conditions.
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The relationship between worries about COVID-19 infection and depression has been widely reported, whereas its relationship with PTSS is less investigated.
“The relationship between worries about COVID-19 infection and depression has been widely reported, whereas its relationship with PTSS is less investigated [37].”
From Associations between COVID-19 Work-Related Stressors and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms among Chinese Doctors and Nurses: Application of Stress-Coping Theory (2022) · cites this paper as [37]
The Discussion (§4.1; page unavailable) reports that increased fear of infection was a risk factor for sleep and mood problems, and that higher fear was associated with depressive symptoms in the study’s healthcare workers. The Discussion (§4.2; page unavailable) calls for further research on traumatic-stress symptoms, but does not say that the specific relationship between infection worries and PTSS has been investigated less than the relationship with depression. (LLM, conf=0.82)
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Coronavirus Stress and Overeating: The Role of Anxiety and COVID-19 Burnout
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“The relationship between worries about COVID-19 infection and depression has been widely reported, whereas its relationship with PTSS is less investigated [37].”
Background
- Authors
- Pappa, S., Athanasiou, N., Sakkas, N., Patrinos, S., Sakka, E., Barmparessou, Z., Tsikrika, S., Adraktas, A., Pataka, A., Migdalis, I., Gida, S., & Katsaounou, P.
- Affiliations
- National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (GR)
- Sotiria General Hospital (GR)
- Pammakaristos Hospital (GR)
- G. Papanikolaou General Hospital (GR)
- NIMTS Hospital (GR)
- e-Trikala (Greece) (GR)
- Corresponding author
- Pappa, Sofia
- ORCID
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-02-08
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2390-2390
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7967750
- OpenAlex
- W3134823709
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 61
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 34 · 2021: 15
- FWCI
- 14.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Preprints.org (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Healthcare professionals’ stress and burnout
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Occupational Therapy › Occupational Health and Burnout
- Keywords
- COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers, depression, anxiety, traumatic stress, burnout, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, personal accomplishment, fear of infection, perceived stress, personal protective equipment, social support, frontline workers, Greece, austerity, refugee crisis, mental health
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Anxiety, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Greece, Health Personnel, Humans, Prevalence, Pandemics
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