Psychological Impact of COVID-19 Patient Care on Families of Healthcare Workers

The Coronavirus‑19 (COVID‑19) pandemic has perpetrated a significant mental health burden amongst health care workers (HCWs) and their families. Families of HCWs are at significant risk of various mental health problems due to concerns regarding the wellbeing of the HCW, fear of contacting the virus from HCWs, staying isolated during periods of quarantine and being the passive recipient of public stigma directed towards HCWs.The objective of this study was to assess the perceived stress, resilience and coping tendencies of families of HCWs managing the COVID 19 crisis.

A cross sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital in India, where close relatives of 150 HCWs managing COVID-19 patients (directly or indirectly involved in patient care) were selected using systematic random sampling. They were evaluated using the Perceived Stress Scale, Brief Resilience Coping Scale, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Pearson’s correlation and Independent t-test were used for statistical analysis using the SPSS software.

Majority (75%) of the family members associated with frontline HCWs had moderate to high level of perceived stress, while23% and 17% had clinically significant anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively. More than 50% had low resilience and coping scores. High levels of stress, anxiety and depression were seen in female respondents, those less than 40 years old, having a child or an elderly family member and when the HCW had direct involvement in COVID-19 patient care.

Families of HCWs suffer from significant psychological burden due to the COVID-19 crisis. They face significant risk of depression and anxiety associated problems, which are augmented by low resilience and impaired coping. Mental health of HCWs and their family members should be given due attention with a focus on early identification, providing psychological support and improving resilience.