Mental Health and Quality of Life for Healthcare Workers in a University Hospital Under COVID-19

Psychiatry Investig. 2022 Feb;19(2):85-91. doi: 10.30773/pi.2021.0307. Epub 2021 Dec 20.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the psychosocial characteristics of the employees working at a university hospital and investigated the factors affecting their quality of life (QOL) under COVID-19.

Methods: This study enrolled 1,191 healthcare workers from a university hospital, including doctors, nurses, administrative officer and technicians. Besides demographic information, depression, anxiety, somatization, insomnia, resilience, and QOL were assessed.

Results: The nurses presented significantly higher scores for anxiety, depression and showed significantly higher insomnia scores and significantly lower resilience scores. The occupations showed significant differences in the QOL and sub-groups, including the overall quality of life and general health (F=4.774, p<0.001), psychological domain (F=6.230, p<0.001), and environment domain (F=5.254, p<0.001). There was a positive correlation between the QOL and resilience (r=0.608, p<0.01). However, depression (r=-0.502, p<0.01), anxiety (r=-0.425, p<0.01), somatization (r=-0.364, p<0.01), and insomnia (r=-0.385, p<0.01) showed negative correlations with the QOL. Resilience was the most important factor influencing the QOL.

Conclusion: The results of this study showed that low resilience adversely affected the QOL and the mental health of the healthcare workers, which consequently had a direct effect on the quality of medical care given to patients.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health care workers; Mental health; Quality of life.

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