High Work-related Stress and Anxiety Response to COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Online Survey Study in South Korea
Open accessPreprint — published as 10.2196/25489
Abstract
Background: Healthcare workers experienced severe psychological impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak. It is important to establish a process of psychological assessment and interventions for healthcare workers affected by epidemics.Objective: We investigated the risk factors associated with the psychological impact of each healthcare worker group, to help optimize psychological interventions for healthcare workers in countries affected by COVID-19.Methods: Participants (N = 1,787) from two hospitals in Korea, completed an online survey from April 14 to 30, 2020, by obtaining information on demographics, psychiatric history and the Stress and Anxiety to Viral Epidemics-9 (SAVE-9), Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scales. Logistic regression analyses were performed to assess contributing factors as predictor variables and healthcare workers' depression as outcome variables.Results: Among the 1,783 healthcare workers, compared with other healthcare workers, nursing professionals had significantly higher levels of depression (PHQ-9 score; 5.5 ± 4.6 vs. 3.8 ± 4.2; P < .01), general anxiety (GAD-7 score; 4.0 ± 4.1 vs. 2.7 ± 3.6; P < .01), and virus-related anxiety symptoms (SAVE-9 score; 21.6 ± 5.9 vs. 18.6 ± 6.3; P < .01). In the nursing professionals group, single workers reported more severe depressive symptoms than married workers (PHQ-9 score ≥ 10; 20.3% vs. 14.1%; P < .01), and junior (<40 years) workers reported more anxiety about the viral epidemic (SAVE-9 anxiety score; 15.6 ± 4.1 vs. 14.7 ± 4.4; P < .01). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the hospital factor (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.45, 95% confidence interval, CI [1.06-1.99]), nursing professionals (aOR = 1.37, 95% CI [1.02-1.98]), single workers (aOR = 1.51, 95% CI [1.05-2.16]), higher stress and anxiety to the viral infection (high SAVE-9 score, aOR = 1.20, 95% CI [1.17-1.24]), and past psychiatric history (aOR = 3.26, 95% CI [2.15-4.96]) were positively associated with depression.Conclusions: Psychological support and interventions should be considered for healthcare workers, especially nursing professionals, those who are single, and those with high SAVE-9 level.
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HCWs are at particular risk of adverse psychological outcomes, including stress, anxiety, depression, distress, insomnia, emotional exhaustion, burnout, and post-traumatic stress disorder, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Consistently with the results of many studies on the psychological impact of past pandemics on health professionals [14,15,16], the literature published until now about COVID-19 revealed that HCWs are at particular risk of adverse psychological outcomes, i.e., of developing more severe mental symptoms, including stress, anxiety, depression, distress, insomnia, emotional exhaustion, burnout, as wel”
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Self-citationThe effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers’ anxiety levels: a meta-analysis
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BackgroundSelf-citation
- Authors
- Ahn, M. H., Shin, Y. W., Suh, S., Kim, J. H., Kim, H. J., Lee, K.-U., & Chung, S.
- Affiliations
- Asan Medical Center (KR)
- Sungshin Women's University (KR)
- University of Ulsan (KR)
- The Catholic University of Korea Uijeongbu St. Mary's Hospital (KR)
- Corresponding author
- Chung, Seockhoon
- ORCID
- Venue
- JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
- Publisher
- Center for Open Science
- Published
- 2020-07-18
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- e25489-e25489
- ISSN
- 2369-2960 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8544732
- OpenAlex
- W3196932104
- Cited by
- 63
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 9.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Research Foundation
- National Research Foundation of Korea (FY2020K2A9A1A01094956)
- 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, occupational stress, anxiety, depression, nurses, psychological distress, risk factors, marital status, age, hospital staff, psychological intervention, South Korea, PHQ-9, GAD-7, burnout
- MeSH terms
- Occupational Stress, COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Anxiety, Anxiety Disorders, Cross-Sectional Studies, Depression, Health Personnel, Humans, Surveys and Questionnaires, Republic of Korea, Pandemics
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