Explaining the Factors Involved in Psychological Effects of Covid-19 on Healthcare Workers by Interpretive Structural Modeling

Abstract

Introduction: Spread of COVID-19 worldwide created anxiety, fear, and stress. In the meantime, healthcare workers have been suffering from significant psychological distress due to providing direct care to the patient, side injuries and quarantine. Examining the effects of this disease based on structural models can help develop a more appropriate program. Therefore, the present research aims to investigate and identify the factors involved in reduction of psychological effects of COVID-19 by interpretive structural modeling. Methods:This study was a mixed study (quantitative and qualitative). The study population included doctors, supervisors and nurses of the clinical departments of Khatam-ul-AnbiyaAbarkoh Hospital in Yazd. The participants were selected using the snowball sampling method. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data. In the quantitative part of the research, the structural self-interaction matrix was used based on our pairwise comparisons between the research components in the form of a square matrix to receive experts' votes and opinions. . The final analysis was performed by MATLAB2018. Result:The results show that the greatest effects are related to "appropriate measures to reduce the disease such as environmental ventilation" and "financial support of personnel" and "sufficient provision of personal protective equipment" and "dedicated sufficient manpower to the involved departments" (with a power of 8). And the lowest influence is related to "continuous training of stress management and constant presence of a psychologist" (with an influence of influence 5) Conclusion:In a situation where the medical staff have a serious responsibility, it is necessary to maintain their mental health, because the main role in fighting this virus is definitely the responsibility of these people. The basic factors in the research model include continuous stress management training, the presence of a psychologist, and inspection of infected areas. by the management team and providing adequate personal protective equipment. As a result, the factors involved in reducing the psychological burden and the prevailing conditions should originate from the mentioned variables and be extended to other variables.