Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Oct;37(10):965-971.
doi: 10.1002/da.23085. Epub 2020 Aug 12.

Anxiety, pandemic-related stress and resilience among physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic

Mariela Mosheva  1   2 , Nimrod Hertz-Palmor  1 , Shirel Dorman Ilan  1 , Noam Matalon  1 , Itai M Pessach  1   2 , Arnon Afek  1   2 , Amitai Ziv  1   2 , Yitshak Kreiss  1   2 , Raz Gross  1   2 , Doron Gothelf  1   2
Affiliations

Anxiety, pandemic-related stress and resilience among physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic

Mariela Mosheva et al. Depress Anxiety. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Background: Physicians play a crucial frontline role in the COVID-19 pandemic, which may involve high levels of anxiety. We aimed to investigate the association between pandemic-related stress factors (PRSF) and anxiety and to evaluate the potential effect of resilience on anxiety among physicians.

Methods: A self-report digital survey was completed by 1106 Israeli physicians (564 males and 542 females) during the COVID-19 outbreak. Anxiety was measured by the 8-item version of the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System. Resilience was evaluated by the 10-item Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Stress was assessed using a PRSF inventory.

Results: Physicians reported high levels of anxiety with a mean score of 59.20 ± 7.95. We found an inverse association between resilience and anxiety. Four salient PRSF (mental exhaustion, anxiety about being infected, anxiety infecting family members, and sleep difficulties) positively associated with anxiety scores.

Conclusions: Our study identified specific PRSF including workload burden and fear of infection that are associated with increased anxiety and resilience that is associated with reduced anxiety among physicians.

Keywords: COVID-19; anxiety; mental health; resilience; stress.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there are no conflict of interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Distribution of mean Patient‐Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) Anxiety scores across pandemic‐related stress factors (low vs. high levels). Error bars represent standard errors
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bai, Y. M. , Lin, C. C. , Lin, C. Y. , Chen, J. Y. , Chue, C. M. , & Chou, P. (2004). Survey of stress reactions among health care workers involved with the SARS outbreak. Psychiatric Services, 55(9), 1055–1057. 10.1176/appi.ps.55.9.1055 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Campbell‐Sills, L. , & Stein, M. B. (2007). Psychometric analysis and refinement of the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD‐RISC): Validation of a 10‐item measure of resilience. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 20, 1019–1028. 10.1002/jts.20271 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Can, W. , Learn, W. , Koh, D. , Lim, M. K. , Chia, S. E. , & Ko, S. M. (2005). Risk perception and impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) on work and personal lives of healthcare workers in Singapore: what can we learn? Medical Care, 43(7), 676–682. - PubMed
    1. Chen, Q. , Liang, M. , Li, Y. , Guo, J. , Fei, D. , Wang, L. , … Zhang, Z. (2020). Mental health care for medical staff in China during the COVID‐19 outbreak. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(4), e15–e16. 10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30078-X - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Chong, M. Y. , Wang, W. C. , Hsieh, W. C. , Lee, C. Y. , Chiu, N. M. , Yeh, W. C. , … Chen, C. L. (2004). Psychological impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome on health workers in a tertiary hospital. British Journal of Psychiatry, 185, 127–133. 10.1192/bjp.185.2.127 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types