Differences Between the Psychological Symptoms of Health Workers and General Community After the First Wave of the COVID-19 Outbreak in Spain

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has worsened the physical and mental health of the general population. Healthcare workers have a high risk of suffering a mental disorder after the first wave. In this way, psychologists, who deal with mental health issues and are considered as healthcare work...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Reno-Chanca, Sergio, Van Hoey, Julie, Santolaya-Prego de Oliver, Jesús Alberto, Blasko-Ochoa, Ilargi, Sanfeliu Aguilar, Pilar, Moret Tatay, María del Carmen
Format: article
Publication Date:2021
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir
Repository:RIUCV. Repositorio de la Universidad Católica de Valencia San Vicente Mártir
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:riucv.ucv.es:20.500.12466/5507
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12466/5507
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Mental health
COVID-19
Distress
OCD
Health care workers
Psychologist
61 Psicología
Description
Summary:The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) has worsened the physical and mental health of the general population. Healthcare workers have a high risk of suffering a mental disorder after the first wave. In this way, psychologists, who deal with mental health issues and are considered as healthcare workers in many countries, are of interest in this context. The present study aimed to examine anxiety, depression, stress, and obsessions and compulsions across psychologists, healthcare professionals, and the general community. These variables were measured through the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), as well as the Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y- BOCS), which are related to different sociodemographic variables. The study was carried out after the first wave in Spain through an online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling and a multigroup analysis were carried out across the groups and variables under study. The results suggested that; (i) healthcare workers and general community depicted similar results in anxiety and stress, as well as obsessions; (ii) the group of psychologists depicted better scores than the other groups under study; (iii) stress and anxiety did not predict compulsions in the group of psychologists; (iv) anxiety predicted obsessions for all the professions, while the relationship of this variable with stress was different for each group; and (v) invariance reached a full metric level.