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COVID-19 pandemic: Psychological stress and coping strategies among doctors

Objective: To determine the prevalence of psychological distress among medical doctors during the covid-19 pandemic and identify the coping mechanisms being employed by them. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Community Medicine, HITEC Institute of Medical Sciences, Taxila from 1st February 2020 to 31st July 2020 Methodology: Three hundred and ninety eight doctors (non-specialists, interns, junior consultants and senior consultants) from emergency services, medicine and allied and surgery and allied departments. Results: There were 224 (56.3%) females, 174 (43.7%) were males. Mean age was 35.2±8.6. Majority of participants were from medicine department (n=266,66.8%). Health professionals who worked at frontline during Covid pandemic were 186 (46.7%). One hundred and ninety four (48.7%) participants had no psychological distress, 62 (15.6%) had mild, 30 (7.5%) had moderate and 112 (28.1%) had severe psychological distress. BREIF-COPE questionnaire was found to have high reliability (Cronbach alpha=0.82). High mean scores were observed for Problem focused (4.7±1.4) and Emotional focused coping (4.7±1.1). Relatively low mean score was found for dysfunctional coping (3.3±1.0). A statistically significant low positive correlation ofIES-R scores was observed with Problem focused coping (r=.47, p=.001) and with emotional focused coping (r=.42, p=.001). However, moderately positive correlation was observed between IES-R scores and dysfunctional coping (r=.64, p=.001). Conclusion: Psychological distress was significantly higher among Covid-19 frontline health workers, particularly among postgraduate trainees working in Medicine and Emergency departments.