Fear of COVID-19 among Health Workers during the Early Stage of Pandemic in Nepal

Abstract

Introduction: Fear is an emotion that has effects on behavior of people and fear of COVID-19 has significantly impacted the psychological and mental well-being of health workers. The study aimed to assess the fear of COVID-19 among health workers of different cadre during COVID-19 pandemic in Nepal. Methods: This was cross-sectional online survey involving 427 health workers currently working in Nepal from April 25 to June 10, 2020. COVID-19 fear was measured using a standard scale of seven items. Questionnaire was prepared in Google form and was sent to study population through social medias and emails. Descriptive and inferential statistics were computed at 5% level of significance. Ethical approval was taken from Nepal Health Research Council, Kathmandu. Results: Of the total, 49.6% respondents were male and 50.4% were female. Among total, 58.8 % respondents were in the age group of 19 to 29 years, and 38.4% respondents were from government organizations. Nearly half of the respondents were doctors. Out of maximum 35 COVID-19 fear score, mean COVID-19 fear was16.38 among males and 19.00 among females, 19.48 among nursing professional and 16.80 among doctors. Mean COVID-19 fear was significantly different across sex and type of health workers. Type of the organization did not have any significant relation with mean fear of COVID-19. Most of the items of COVID-19 fear were significantly associated with sex and type of health workers. Conclusion: A high level of COVID-19 fear among health workers was found in Nepal during the early stage of COVID-19 pandemic. Mean COVID-19 fear was significantly different across sex and type of health workers. Sex of the health workers and type of profession should be considered while planning psychological intervention among health workers to address the impact of COVID-19 fear.