Level of anxiety among healthcare providers during COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia: cross-sectional study

Abbas Al Mutair; Alya Al Mutairi; Yasmine Alabbasi; Abbas Shamsan; Sana Al-Mahmoud; Saad Alhumaid; Muhammad Zeshan Arshad; Mansour Awad; Ali Rabaan

doi:10.7717/peerj.12119

Level of anxiety among healthcare providers during COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia: cross-sectional study

PeerJ. 2021 Sep 2:9:e12119. doi: 10.7717/peerj.12119. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Abbas Al Mutair^{1

2

3}, Alya Al Mutairi⁴, Yasmine Alabbasi⁵, Abbas Shamsan⁶, Sana Al-Mahmoud⁷, Saad Alhumaid⁸, Muhammad Zeshan Arshad⁹, Mansour Awad¹⁰, Ali Rabaan^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ College of Nursing, Princess Norah University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
² School of Nursing, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, Australia.
³ Research Center, Almoosa Specialist Hospital, Al-ahsa, Saudi Arabia, Al-Ahsa, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Taibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Maternity and Child Health Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Research Center, Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ Imam Abdurrahman Bin Faisal University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Administration of Pharmaceutical Care, Al-Ahsa Health Cluster, Ministry of Health, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁹ Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
¹⁰ Commitment Administration, General Directorate of Health Affairs, Medina, Medina, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory, Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
¹² Department of Public Health and Nutrition, the University of Haripur, Haripur, Pakistan.

Abstract

Background: The burden of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted widely on the healthcare providers physically and mentally. Many healthcare providers are exposed to psychological stressors due to their high risk of contracting the virus.

Aims: This study aimed to measure the level of anxiety among healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia. In addition, this study aimed to measure the level of anxiety based on demographic characteristics.

Method: A cross-sectional survey was employed to recruit a convenience sample of healthcare providers. A pencil and paper self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from demographic and generalized anxiety disorder GAD-7 data. However, this study received written informed consent from participants of the study. In addition, the study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Dr. Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Group (IRB Log No. RC20.06.88-03).

Results: A total of 650 participants were recruited, results of GAD-7 showed that 43.5%, 28.9% and 27.5% of healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia experienced mild, moderate and severe anxiety, respectively, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that age, health specialty, nationality, and sleeping disorders before COVID-19 were associated with anxiety levels.

Conclusion: The generalized anxiety among healthcare providers in Saudi Arabia was mild. Older healthcare providers were found to have a higher level of anxiety compared to other participating healthcare providers. Several factors may contribute to a higher level of anxiety including age, socioeconomic status, marital status, having chronic conditions, and sleeping disorder before the COVID-19 pandemic. To further understand the level of anxiety among healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia, longitudinal and mixed-method research is needed.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Health care facilities; Healthcare provider; Mental health; Saudi Arabia.

Grants and funding

The authors received no funding for this work.