Evaluation of the Behavior and Health Anxiety Levels the Patients Applying to the Periodontology Clinic during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The aim of this study is to examine the general behavioral status of individuals who apply to the Periodontology clinic during the COVID-19 pandemic, to evaluate their health anxiety levels and to compare their anxiety score averages in terms of various factors. Our study was carried out using the face-to-face survey method. Participants were asked to fill out a demographic data form, a survey form questioning pandemic-related behaviors, and the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI). The effects of factors such as age, gender, marital status, educational status, working in a health institution and having had COVID-19 disease on health anxiety levels were investigated. Kolmogorov-Smirnow test, Shapiro-Wilk test, Indepedent Samples T-Test, ANOVA, and Tukey HSD tests were used for statistical analysis (p<0.05.). A total of 400 volunteer participants were included (252 females, 148 males). Anxiety score averages showed a statistically significant difference in terms of gender and education groups (p=0.023; p=0.001, respectively). Accordingly, female's mean SHAI score (17.45±7.053) was found to be higher than male's (15.69±8.161). The SHAI mean scores of primary school graduates (20.86±6.105) were higher than those of high school (15.95±8.197) and university graduates (16.11±6.367). There was no significant difference in terms of marital status, working in a health institution and being diagnosed with COVID-19. In addition, 48.2% of the participants only used surgical masks. Most participants declared that their confidence in healthcare workers (HWs) increased during the epidemic. Females and individuals with low educational status had higher health anxiety in this study. Moreover, it can be emphasized with this study that the pandemic has increased the confidence in HWs.