Anxiety, Depression and Burnout Levels of Turkish Healthcare Workers at the End of the First Period of COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey

Objective: COVID-19 pandemic affected the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs) as well as their physical health. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the anxiety, depression and burnout levels of Turkish HCWs after the first period of the pandemic.

Methods: The participants filled sociodemographic data form, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI).

Results: In this study, 221 HCWs (68.8% female) with a median age of 28 (20-66) years were included. Concerning HADS cut-off points, 39.8% of the participants scored above the depression cut-off point, while 26.2% scored above the cut-off point for anxiety. The anxiety (HADS-A) and depression (HADS-D) scores of nurses and medical secretaries were significantly higher than the physicians. Also, the anxiety and depression rates of nurses were higher than both physicians and medical secretaries. Emotional exhaustion (MBI-EE) and depersonalization (MBI-D) scores were highest in nurses, followed by medical secretaries and physicians, respectively. In multivariate analysis, being a nurse (OR: 4.671, p = 0.044) or medical secretary (OR: 4.013, p = 0.048), requirement of using a mental health support line (OR: 4.641, p = 0.005), having any kind of addiction (OR: 2.562, p = 0.019) and being under antidepressant therapy (OR: 3.096, p = 0.036) significantly increased the risk of anxiety. However, in multivariate analyses, the only requirement of using a mental health support line significantly increased the risk of depression (OR: 8.542, p = 0.001).

Conclusion: Female HCWs, nurses and medical secretaries experienced higher levels of mental health symptoms than male HCWs and physicians.