The Mental Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Physicians, Nurses, and Other Health Care Providers in Alberta: Cross-sectional Survey

Hany El Gindi; Reham Shalaby; April Gusnowski; Wesley Vuong; Shireen Surood; Marianne Hrabok; Andrew J Greenshaw; Vincent Agyapong

doi:10.2196/27469

The Mental Health Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Physicians, Nurses, and Other Health Care Providers in Alberta: Cross-sectional Survey

JMIR Form Res. 2022 Mar 9;6(3):e27469. doi: 10.2196/27469.

Authors

Hany El Gindi¹, Reham Shalaby², April Gusnowski³, Wesley Vuong³, Shireen Surood³, Marianne Hrabok⁴, Andrew J Greenshaw², Vincent Agyapong²

Affiliations

¹ Critical Care Medicine Department, King Abdul-Aziz Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
³ Addiction and Mental Health, Alberta Health Services, Edmonton, AB, Canada.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

PMID: 34995203
PMCID: PMC8916101
DOI: 10.2196/27469

Abstract

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, threats to mental health, psychological safety, and well-being are evident, particularly among the first responders and the health care staff.

Objective: This study aims to examine the prevalence and potential predictors of the likely stress, generalized anxiety disorder, and major depressive disorder among health care workers (HCWs).

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was used through a survey link sent to gather demographic information and responses on several self-report scales, including the Perceived Stress Scale, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale, and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 among HCWs enrolled in the Text4Hope program.

Results: The result from this study suggests that during the COVID-19 pandemic, HCWs reported a high likelihood of moderate-to-high perceived stress (n=840, 81.2%), moderate-to-severe anxiety (n=369, 38.6%), and depression (n=317, 32.7%) symptoms. Nurses and other HCWs were significantly more likely to report depressive symptoms compared to physicians (F(2, 159.47)=15.89, 95% CI -5.05 to -2.04). Younger age groups of HCWs (≤30 years) were more prone to report likely stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms compared to HCWs 41-50 and >50 years old (odds ratio [OR] 1.82-3.03). Similarly, females and those who reported a lack of social support (separated/divorced and single) among HCWs had a higher likelihood to report likely stress and depressive symptoms, respectively (OR 1.8 and 1.6, respectively).

Conclusions: This cross-sectional study explored a high level of mental health burdens during the COVID-19 pandemic among HCWs in Alberta. Levels of psychological symptoms were more noticeable in the female gender and the nursing profession.

Keywords: COVID-19; Canada; Text4Hope; anxiety; depression; e-mental health; health care worker; impact; mental health; mobile technology; nurse; pandemic; physician; stress.

©Hany El Gindi, Reham Shalaby, April Gusnowski, Wesley Vuong, Shireen Surood, Marianne Hrabok, Andrew J Greenshaw, Vincent Agyapong. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 09.03.2022.