Changes in sexual behaviour of male physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

Healthcare workers have been affected both physically and mentally during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health and sexual behaviour of male physicians working during the pandemic. A survey was carried out on male physicians working in Turkey during the pandemic. Participants’ sexual behaviours, anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms were assessed. The frequency of anxiety and depressive symptoms was 55.9% and 44.1%, respectively. Among the 102 participants, 35.3% reported decreased sexual desire, and 41.2% reported decreased sexual intercourse. Working more, caring for COVID-19 patients, having higher scores for anxiety and depressive symptoms were related to changes in sexual behaviour. High prevalences of anxiety and depressive symptoms and sexual behaviour changes were found among male physicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study points out the importance of psychosocial support in health professionals during the pandemic period.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• male physicians
• sexual behaviour
• depression
• anxiety

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Approval for the study was granted by the local ethics committee (no. 2020/427)

Informed consent

Informed consent was taken.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.