The Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depression and Anxiety during COVID-19 Pandemic among Healthcare Workers in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Seydaduong Them, Xun Huang, Xiongfeng Pan, Shi Wu Wen, Aizhong Liu, Ilmiyah Surotul, Ousman Bajinka

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic may have a negative impact on the mental health of healthcare workers worldwide. The high level of depression and anxiety have been found in previous studies. However, few studies have examined the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on depression and anxiety among Cambodian healthcare workers.

Objectives: To determine the level of the depression and anxiety and associated factors among healthcare workers in Cambodia during COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study. A convenience sampling method was used to collect data from a survey between August 11st, 2022 and September 17th, 2022. Health care workers in three public hospitals and other private sectors in Phnom Penh in Cambodia were invited to complete the questionnaires. Depression and anxiety were measured by HADS subscales for Anxiety (HADS-A) and Depression (HADS-D), and demography and socio-economic status data were collected by an Ad Hoc questionnaire developed by the research team.

Results: A total of 393 healthcare workers from the health services completed the questionnaires and were included in the analysis. Among them, 33.1% were nurses, 31.0% were physicians, 4.6% were lab technicians, 4.6 % were dentists, 4.8% were midwives, and 18.3% were pharmacists. The results showed that the 34.6% and 34.4% of the healthcare workers had scored range between 8 and 21 indicating abnormalities of depression and anxiety, respectively during COVID-19 pandemic,which was much higher than non-pandemic periods in Cambodia and similar with other countries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Conclusions: During Covid-19 pandemic, rates of depression and anxiety were elevated in Cambodian healthcare workers, similar with other countries.

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