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. 2020 Oct:80:131-136.
doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2020.07.073. Epub 2020 Aug 13.

The anxiety levels, quality of sleep and life and problem-solving skills in healthcare workers employed in COVID-19 services

Sevda Korkmaz  1 , Aslı Kazgan  2 , Sevler Çekiç  3 , Ayşe Sağmak Tartar  4 , Hale Nur Balcı  5 , Murad Atmaca  5
Affiliations

The anxiety levels, quality of sleep and life and problem-solving skills in healthcare workers employed in COVID-19 services

Sevda Korkmaz et al. J Clin Neurosci. 2020 Oct.

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to investigate the level of anxiety experienced by healthcare workers employed in COVID-19 services, the effects of anxiety on sleep quality and quality of life and, the relationship between these variables and problem-solving skills of the healthcare workers.

Material and method: The study was conducted in two healthcare facilities which serve as pandemic hospitals. 140 healthcare workers, who were employed in the COVID-19 outpatient clinics or emergency departments, participated in the present study. All participants were submitted to the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Problem Solving Inventory (PSI), World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI).

Findings: The number of participants without anxiety was 41(29%), with mild anxiety was 53(38%). Clinically significant anxiety findings were found in only 33% of the participants. A positive correlation was found between the participants' BAI scores and PSQI, PSI scores, and a negative correlation with the WHOQOL-BREF scores. PSQI and PSI scores of nurses were statistically higher when compared to those of physicians and staff. WHOQOL-BREF scores were found to be lower.

Conclusion: Healthcare workers might develop psychiatric symptoms such as anxiety and sleep disturbance. Such symptoms could adversely affect the problem-solving skills of healthcare workers and cause a deterioration in their quality of life.

Keywords: Anxiety; Coronavirus pandemic; Problem-solving skills; Quality of life; Sleep disturbance.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Comment in

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