The prevalence of anxiety, insomnia and depression among pharmacy employees in the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to detect the prevalence of anxiety, insomnia and depression amongst pharmacy employees during the COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: The population of this cross-sectional study was all pharmacy employees in the Erzincan city centre during the COVID-19 outbreak. In our study, a questionnaire including demographic information, the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) Test, the Insomnia Severity Index and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were applied to all participants. Results: The study recruited 126 participants, of which 45.2% were pharmacists and 54.8% were other pharmacy employees. An important part of our study group had anxiety (49.1%), depression (45.2%) and insomnia (52.4%) problems. Anxiety, depression and insomnia scores were significantly higher in those with a mental health problem, fear of being infected, increased workload, and those who saw the probability of encountering the patient. In our study group, there was no statistically significant difference in terms of anxiety, depression and insomnia compared to those who were not pharmacists. Conclusions: In our study, it was observed that pharmacy employees have developed moderate anxiety, depression and insomnia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The fact that pharmacy employees have close scale scores to other healthcare workers reported in the literature indicates that there is an increased risk in this group, even if they do not work in the hospital. Healthcare personnel should be considered in all planned psychosocial interventions.

Keywords

• Pharmacy employees
• anxiety
• depression
• insomnia
• pandemi

COVID-19 pandemisinde eczanede çalışan personelin kaygı, uykusuzluk ve depresyon prevalansı

Abstract

Amaç: Sağlık hizmet sunumunda önemli bir yere sahip eczane çalışanlarının COVID-19 salgınında kaygı, uykusuzluk ve depresyon durumlarını tespit etmek amacıyla çalışma planlanmıştır. Yöntem: Bu çalışma COVID-19 salgını sırasında il merkezinde bulunan tüm eczane çalışanlarına uygulanan kesitsel nitelikli anket çalışmasıdır. Bu çalışmada tüm katılımcılara demografik bilgiler içeren anket formu Yaygın Anksiyete Bozukluğu-7 (YAB-7) Testi, uykusuzluk şiddet indeksi ve Hasta Sağlık Anketi – 9 (PHQ - 9) uygulandı. Bulgular: Çalışmada 126 eczane çalışanı katılmış olup bunların %45.2’si eczacılardan, %54.8’i diğer çalışanlardan oluşmuştur. Çalışma grubunun önemli bir kısmında anksiyete (%49.1), depresyon (%45.2) ve uykusuzluk (%52.4) problemleri vardı. Daha önce ruhsal hastalık geçirme öyküsü, enfekte olma korkusu, iş yükü artışı olanlarda ve hastayla karşılaşma ihtimalini yüksek görenlerde anksiyete, depresyon ve uykusuzluk puanları anlamlı olarak daha yüksek bulunmuştur. Araştırma grubumuzda eczacı olanlarda olmayanlara göre anksiyete, depresyon ve uykusuzluk durumları açısından istatistiksel olarak anlamlı fark bulunmamıştır. Sonuç: Çalışmada COVID-19 pandemi sırasında eczane çalışanlarında orta düzeyde anksiyete, depresyon ve uykusuzluk durumu geliştiği görülmüştür. Eczane çalışanlarının literatürde bildirilen sağlık çalışanlarına yakın düzeyde ölçek puanlarına sahip olması, hastanede çalışmasa da bu grupta da risk artışı olduğunu göstermektedir. Planlanan tüm psikososyal girişimlerde hastane dışında çalışan ve sağlık hizmeti veren eczane personelide göz önüne alınmalıdır.

Keywords

• Eczane çalışanları
• kaygı
• depresyon
• uykusuzluk
• pandemi

References

1. Öztaş D. Yeni Corona Pandemisi (COVID-19) İle Mücadelede Geçmişten Ders Çıkartmak. Ankara Med J. 2020; 2:468-81.
2. Liu S, Yang L, Zhang C, Xiang Y-T, Liu Z, Hu S, et al. Online mental health services in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; 7:e17-e8.
3. Taylor MR, Agho KE, Stevens GJ, Raphael B. Factors influencing psychological distress during a disease epidemic: data from Australia's first outbreak of equine influenza. BMC public health. 2008; 8:347.
4. Zhang W-r, Wang K, Yin L, Zhao W-f, Xue Q, Peng M, et al. Mental health and psychosocial problems of medical health workers during the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Psychotherapy and psychosomatics. 2020; 89:242-50.
5. Lau JT, Yang X, Pang E, Tsui H, Wong E, Wing YK. SARS-related perceptions in Hong Kong. Emerging infectious diseases. 2005; 11:417.
6. Bai Y, Lin C-C, Lin C-Y, Chen J-Y, Chue C-M, Chou P. Survey of stress reactions among health care workers involved with the SARS outbreak. Psychiatric Services. 2004; 55:1055-7.
7. Lee AM, Wong JG, McAlonan GM, Cheung V, Cheung C, Sham PC, et al. Stress and psychological distress among SARS survivors 1 year after the outbreak. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry. 2007; 52:233-40.
8. Orhan İE, Aslan M. COVID-19 Sürecinde Eczacıların Rolü. Gazi Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi. 2020; özel sayı 72-77.

9. Türk Eczacıları Birliği. Görmezden Gelinmek İstemiyoruz. 2020; Available at: https://www.teb.org.tr/news/8973/G%C3%B6rmezden-Gelinmek- C4%B0stemiyoruz. Accessed November 1, 2020
10. Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JBW, Löwe B. A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The GAD-7. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2006; 166:1092-7.
11. Konkan R, Şenormancı Ö, Güçlü O, Aydın E, Sungur MZ. Validity and reliability study for the Turkish adaptation of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) scale. Arch Neuropsychiatry. 2013; 50:53-8.
12. Boysan M, Güleç M, Beşiroğlu L, Kalafat T. Uykusuzluk Şiddeti İndeksi’nin Türk örneklemindeki psikometrik özellikleri. Anadolu Psikiyatri Dergisi. 2010; 11:248-52.
13. Spitzer RL, Kroenke K, Williams JB, Group PHQPCS. Validation and utility of a self-report version of PRIME-MD: the PHQ primary care study. Jama. 1999; 282:1737-44.
14. Sari YE, Kokoglu B, Balcioglu H, Bilge U, Colak E, Unluoglu I. Turkish reliability of the patient health questionnaire-9. Biomedical Research 2016. Special Issue: 460-462
15. Wickware C. Nearly a third of people more likely to visit their pharmacy first following COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmaceutıcal-Journal; 2020; Available at: https://www.pharmaceutical- journal.com/XmlServers/news-and-analysis/news/nearly-a-third-of-people-more-likely-to-visit-their-pharmacy-first-following-COVID- pandemic/20208201.article. Accessed November 10, 2020
16. Elbay RY, Kurtulmuş A, Arpacıoğlu S, Karadere E. Depression, Anxiety, Stress Levels of Physicians and Associated Factors In COVID-19 Pandemics. Psychiatry Research. 2020:113130.
17. Lai J, Ma S, Wang Y, Cai Z, Hu J, Wei N, et al. Factors associated with mental health outcomes among health care workers exposed to coronavirus disease 2019. JAMA network open. 2020; 3:e203976-e.
18. Xiao H, Zhang Y, Kong D, Li S, Yang N. The effects of social support on sleep quality of medical staff treating patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in January and February 2020 in China. Medical science monitor: international medical journal of experimental and clinical research. 2020; 26:e923549-1.
19. Kang L, Li Y, Hu S, Chen M, Yang C, Yang BX, et al. The mental health of medical workers in Wuhan, China dealing with the 2019 novel coronavirus. The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; 7:e14.
20. Zhang C, Yang L, Liu S, Ma S, Wang Y, Cai Z, et al. Survey of Insomnia and Related Social Psychological Factors Among Medical Staff Involved in the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Disease Outbreak. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 2020; 11.
21. Zhu Z, Xu S, Wang H, Liu Z, Wu J, Li G, et al. COVID-19 in Wuhan: Immediate Psychological Impact on 5062 Health Workers. MedRxiv. 2020.
22. Van Reeth O, Weibel L, Spiegel K, Leproult R, Dugovic C, Maccari S. Interactions between stress and sleep: from basic research to clinical situations. Sleep medicine reviews. 2000; 4:201-20.
23. Alvaro PK, Roberts RM, Harris JK. A systematic review assessing bidirectionality between sleep disturbances, anxiety, and depression. Sleep. 2013; 36:1059-68.
24. Johnson EO, Roth T, Breslau N. The association of insomnia with anxiety disorders and depression: exploration of the direction of risk. Journal of psychiatric research. 2006; 40:700-8.
25. Aerzteblatt.de. Apotheker erhalten bei Abgabe von Arzneimitteln mehr Möglichkeiten. 2020; Available at: https://www.aerzteblatt.de/nachrichten/112196/Apotheker-erhalten-bei-Abgabe-von-Arzneimitteln-mehr-Moeglichkeiten. Accessed November 18, 2020
26. Fip. Pharmacists’ value in primary health care highlighted at 73rd WHA. 2020; Available at: https://www.fip.org/news?news=newsitem&newsitem=316. Accessed November 18, 2020