Resilience and coronavirus anxiety in Iran: Online survey among healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers

Healthcare workers are at the forefront of the fight against disease and undoubtedly have the most significant responsibility and burden of stress. They are under severe physical and psychological pressure. This study compared the anxiety caused by corona and resilience in healthcare and non-healthcare workers.

This cross-sectional study used an online self-administered questionnaire in Iran. The sample comprised 102 healthcare workers and 123 non-healthcare workers who completed the social network questionnaire from March 1 to 9, 2021. The participants were assessed using the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC) and the Corona Disease Anxiety Scale (CDAS). The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, Chi-square, t-test, Mann-Whitney test, ANCOVA, and SPSS v.16.

COVID-19 has led to significantly higher anxiety in healthcare workers regarding physical symptoms than in non-healthcare workers (P= 0.037). Also, the healthcare worker had raised a total CDAS score (P= 0.029). The total score of CD-RISC was also 90.6±13.9 among the non-healthcare workers and 84.1±19.8 among healthcare workers (P= 0.036). After adjustment for the probable confounding effect of education level, again, the total scores of the two scales were significantly different between the two groups (P< 0.05).

According to the results, COVID-19 has led to significantly higher anxiety and lower resilience in healthcare workers than non-healthcare workers.