ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 76
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic among
healthcare workers in private clinics in Sousse (Tunisia)
Dr Waad Benbelgacem1, Sihem Ben Fredj1,2, Nawel Zammit1,2, Rim Ghammam1,2, Amani Maatouk1,
Sirine Ghribi1, Jihen Maatoug1,2, Hassen Ghannem1,2, Imed Harrabi1,2
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Farhat Hached Hospital, Epidemiology Department, ‘LR19SP03’, 4000, Sousse, Tunisia, 2University of
Sousse, Faculty of Medicine of Sousse, 4000, Sousse, Tunisia
Background
According to the WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic has had unprecedented negative impacts on the
health, wellbeing and livelihoods of people worldwide. This pandemic triggered a 25% increase in the
prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide. Our study aimed to assess the impact that COVID-19
had on the mental health of healthcare workers (HCWs) in private medical clinics in Sousse
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Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWs working in private clinics in Sousse, from
September 2020 to November 2020. The calculated sample size was 454 employees. In collaboration
with the Group of Occupational Medicine of Sousse (GOMS), convenience sampling was conducted to
include five private clinics and GOMS. We used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to
assess anxiety and depression disorders. We used SPSS 20 software for statistical analysis.
Results
There was a total of 543 participants with a female predominance (68.3%) and a sex ratio of 0.36. The
mean age was 34.15 ± 8.73 years. Of the participants, 23% (n = 112) were labourers, while almost
half 45.5% (n = 247) were paramedical staff, 13.4% (n = 73) were managers (administrative, doctors,
pharmacists) and 9.6% (n = 52) were administrative staff. Twenty-six (4.7%) had a psychiatric illness.
According to HADS, 25.6% (n = 139) of the employees presented certain anxiety symptomatology;
25% (n = 136) had doubtful anxiety symptomatology and 49% (n = 266) did not have anxiety
symptomatology. Further, 18.4% (n = 100) presented certain depressive symptomatology, 20.8% (n
= 113) had doubtful depressive symptomatology and 60.4% (n = 328) did not present any depressive
symptomatology. Paramedical staff were the most predisposed group to anxiety (32.4% [n = 80]; P =
0.042) and depression (25.5% [n = 63]; P = 0.001)
Conclusion
A high percentage of participants experienced anxiety or depressive symptoms during this period
of COVID-19. So providing mental health support to HCWs is essential to preserve our working
healthcare force’s wellbeing.
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