Lay Summary

Healthcare workers experience high level of stress during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we measured the level of this stress using some questionnaires. The result showed that 93.6% had experienced this stress during COVID-19 pandemic with 37.8% of them reporting mild form, 49.1% reported moderate form and 5.8% reported severe form. Also, 3.2% and 6.7% reported symptoms of anxiety and depression symptoms respectively. Female healthcare workers experienced higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms. Nurses and healthcare workers with anxiety reported more psychological distress when compare with other healthcare workers

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has made healthcare workers (HCWs) more prone to psychosocial distress and other mental disorders. Thus, the aim of this study is to measure self-reported psychological distress and associated factors among a sample of Nigerian HCWs

Methods

This is a cross-sectional descriptive study; the first phase of a project for the development of a mobile-health intervention for reducing the psychological distress among Nigerian healthcare workers (doctors and nurses) during COVID-19 pandemic. A questionnaire package that consisted of a sociodemographic and self-reported COVID-19 related experiences questionnaire, Kessler Psychological distress Scale, Patient Health Questionnaire, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder Questionnaire.

Results

A total of 434 health workers participated in this study. Majority were female (291=67.1%), and nurses (225=51.8). The mean (SD) age was 37.4(3.1) years. A total of 402 (93.6%) had experienced psychological distress with 37.8% of the participants reporting mild form, 49.1% reported moderate form and 5.8% reported severe form. The prevalence of “moderate to severe” anxiety and depression symptoms were 3.2% and 6.7% respectively. Female health workers had significantly higher levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms, while the nurses had significantly higher levels of psychological distress and depressive symptoms. Factors associated with significantly higher odds of experiencing psychological distress were being a nurse (β=1.89: 95% CI; 1.07-1.3.34, p=0.029) and higher levels of anxiety (β=1.21: 95% CI; 1.01-1.24, p=0.031).

Conclusion

There is a high level of psychological distress experienced by Nigerian HCWs during the ongoing pandemic. This justifies the need for the development of an innovative, culturally sensitive, cost-effective, and evidence-based psychosocial intervention for psychological distress among HCWs.