Impact of the covid-19 pandemic on mental health and sexuality of female doctors

Background: COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s lives around the world due to restrictive measures adopted by governments. The impact of this change on female sexuality needs to be further investigated, particularly between female doctors who are more at risk as they are directly involved with he...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Ziegler, Nadine de Souza, Müller, Gabriel Cardozo, Grossi, Fernanda Santos, Pacagnella, Rodolfo de Carvalho, Hermel, Júlia Schneider, Vettorazzi, Janete
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:www.lume.ufrgs.br:10183/287474
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10183/287474
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Depressão
Estresse psicológico
Ansiedade
COVID-19
Pandemias
Transtornos de ansiedade
Disfunções sexuais psicogênicas
Coito
Brasil
Depression
Psychological stress
Anxiety
COVID 19
Pandemics
Anxiety disorders
Sexual dysfunction
Copulation
Descripción
Sumario:Background: COVID-19 pandemic has changed people’s lives around the world due to restrictive measures adopted by governments. The impact of this change on female sexuality needs to be further investigated, particularly between female doctors who are more at risk as they are directly involved with health care services. Methods: An online survey has been filled out by female doctors. The questionnaire evaluates sexual function, depression, anxiety, burnout, sociodemographic and professional data, and it was answered during the peak of COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. The main outcome is female doctors’ sexual function during COVID-19 pandemic, which was evaluated by analyzing FSFI questionnaires. The secondary outcome is related to their mental health, assessed via depression, anxiety and burnout questionnaires. Results: A sample of 388 female doctors filled out the questionnaire. The median age was 34.0 (29.0, 43.0) years old. The total FSFI median score was 23.8 [18.9, 26.8] with desire domain median of 5.0 [3.0, 7.0]. In our sample, 231 (59.5%) women had depression and/or anxiety, out of these, 191 (82.7%) had depression and 192 (83.2%), anxiety. From these samples of doctors with depression and/or anxiety, 183 (79.2%) had sexual dysfunction. Conclusion: This finding suggests that doctors are experiencing a high risk of sexual dysfunction and mental illness during the COVID-19 outbreak. A high index of depression and/or anxiety was shown in the studied population, with almost 80% of them reaching criteria for sexual dysfunction. Working in the frontline is related to worse mental health conditions. Depression and anxiety were found as potential mediators of burnout effect on sexual function.