Anxiety, depression, stress, fear and social support during COVID-19 pandemic among Jordanian healthcare workers

Abstract

The emergence of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected health-care workers’ psychological and mental health. Few studies have been conducted examining the psychological effect of COVID-19 on health-care worker psychological health in Jordan. Therefore, the present study aims to assess the respective levels of fear, anxiety, depression, stress, social support, and the associated factors, experienced by Jordanian health-care workers during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This study adopted a cross-sectional, correlational design to collect data from 365 health-care workers in Amman, Jordan, from August 16th to 23rd, 2020. Along with collecting sociodemographic characteristics, the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support electronically administered to participants. The majority of the participants (69.3%) were registered nurses. The mean overall score for the Fear of COVID-19 scale was 23.64 (SD + 6.85) which again exceeded the mid-point for the total score range (21), indicating elevated level fear of the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants had displayed extremely severe depression 40%, extremely severe anxiety 60%, and 35% severely distressed. Scores for depression (21.30 ± 10.86), anxiety (20.37 ± 10.80), stress (23.33 ± 10.87) were also high. Factors determined to be associated with psychological distress were being male, married, aged 40 years and older, and having more clinical experience. Assessment of social support indicated moderate-to-high levels of perceived support for all dimensions (significant other: 5.17 ± 1.28, family: 5.03 ± 1.30, friends: 5.05 ± 1.30). Weak significant correlations were found between social support and the other study variables (r < 0.22), indicating a weak association with fear, depression, anxiety, and stress, respectively. Overall, Jordanian health-care workers sample reported fear, depression, anxiety, and stress. The associated factors were being male, married, aged 40 years and older, and having more clinical experience. Regarding social support, participants primarily relied on support from their families, followed by support from friends.