Psychopathological states among Congolese health workers during the first wave of COVID-19 pandemic: links with emotion regulation and social support

Figures & data

Table 1. Sociodemographic characteristics of participants.

Variables	Men	Women	Total	p Value
Age (SD)	39 (10)	38 (11)	39 (11)	.72
Marital status N (%)
Married	94 (75)	65 (67)	159 (72)	.53
Non-married	55 (25)	38 (33)	93 (28)
Profession N (%)
Medical doctors	53 (40)	37 (33)	90 (36)	.47
Nurses	57 (45)	52 (57)	109 (43)
Others^a	39 (15)	22 (10)	14 (21)

^a Others (pharmacists, hygienists, dentists, psychologists, medical secretaries, …).

Table 2. Contextual factors among participants.

Variable	Item	Not at all N (%)	A little N (%)	Quite a bit N (%)	Enough N (%)	Sufficiently N (%)	A lot N (%)
Information	Do you feel that you have received enough information about the COVID-19 disease?	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	57 (23)	123 (49)	72 (28)
Personal protective equipment	Do you feel that you had the means to protect yourself from transmission to COVID-19 during your service hours?	3 (1)	56 (22)	187 (74)	5 (1)	6 (2)	0 (0)
Psychological support	Did you have the opportunity for psychological support in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic?	82 (33)	121 (48)	44 (17)	5 (2)	0 (0)	0 (0)
hostility	Have you been criticized, insulted, or harassed by community members, patients, or their family because you are a caregiver contributing to the response?	0 (0)	0 (0)	24 (9)	100 (40)	122 (48)	8 (3)
COVID-19 direct management	Did you personally have to treat patients in whom COVID-19 has been suspected or confirmed?	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	86 (34)	123 (49)	43 (17)
Fear of infection	Did you fear being infected with COVID-19 while doing your job?	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	21 (8)	231 (92)
Fear of transmitting COVID-19	Have you been worried about transmitting the COVID-19 virus to your loved ones?	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	21 (8)	108 (43)	123 (49)

Table 3. Psychosocial parameters among participants.

Parameters	Total	Male	Female	P value
CERQ
Acceptance Mean (SD)	11.84 (2.84)	11.88 (2.88)	11.78 (2.91)	0.840
Positive refocusing Mean (SD)	12.16 (3.23)	12.37 (3.42)	11.83 (2.90)	0.319
Refocus on planning Mean (SD)	14.42 (3.28)	14.76 (3.36)	13.90 (3.81)	0.114
Positive reappraisal Mean (SD)	13.84 (3.39)	14.19 (3.16)	13.30 (3.69)	0.112
Putting into perspective Mean (SD)	22.56 (5.09)	22.84 (5.09)	22.13 (5.041)	0.407
Self-blame Mean (SD)	10.89 (4.01)	11.11 (4.37)	10.57 (5.52)	0.417
Rumination Mean (SD)	12.68 (4.48)	12.87 (4.57)	12.43 (4.38)	0.579
Catastrophizing Mean (SD)	12.08 (4.55)	12.17 (4.61)	11.93 (4.49)	0.751
Blaming others Mean (SD)	10.20 (3.21)	10.31 (3.24)	10.02 (3.19)	0.599
QFSSS
Emotional support Mean (SD)	23.69 (7.55)	24.34 (7.40)	22.68 (7.74)	0.185
Instrumental support Mean (SD)	17.50 (5.79)	17. 97 (5.68)	16.78 (5.93)	0.219
Informational support Mean (SD)	23.02 (7.42)	23.31 (7.20)	22.57 (7.79)	0.545
Beck scale for depression
Beck scale for depression score Mean (SD)	4.65 (6.59)	4.51 (6.59)	4.87 (7.27)	0.75
No depression N (%)	115 (60)	68 (60)	47 (58)	0.27
Mild depression N (%)	56 (20)	30 (20)	26 (22)
Medium depression N (%)	47 (14)	27 (15)	20 (13)
Severe depression N (%)	34 (6)	17 (5)	17 (7)
Stanford acute stress reaction
Dissociation N (%)	25 (10)	13 (9)	12 (12)	0.53
Reactivation N (%)	35 (14)	14 (15)	7 (12)	0.54
Avoidance N (%)	32 (21)	24 (18)	22 (25)	0.33
Anxiety and sleep N (%)	43 (17)	24 (16)	19 (18)	0.75
Depreciation N (%)	60 (24)	32 (22)	28 (27)	0.48
Acute stress disorder N (%)	40 (16)	19 (14)	21 (20)	0.34

Table 4. Univariate and multiple regression of factors associated with psychiatric outcomes (depression and/or acute stress disorder).

Factors associated to psychiatric outcome	Unadj OR (95% CI)	p-Value	Adj OR (95% CI)	p-Value
Age	3.62 (0.69–7.94)	.09	1.01 (0.96–1.15)	.71
Protection kit	0.24 (0.12–0.98)	<.001	0.58 (0.21–0.88)	.02
Psychological support	0.94 (0.41–1.84)	.11	–	–
Hostility	3.21 (1.23–4.21)	<.001	2.21 (1.54–3.78)	.01
COVID19 direct management	1.13 (0.82–2.23)	.07	–	–
CERQ
Acceptance	1.02 (0.89–2.18)	.679	–	–
Positive refocusing	0.96 (0.84–2.89)	.537	–	–
Refocus on planning	0.95 (0.84–1.67)	.388	–	–
Positive reappraisal	0.89 (0.49–1.41)	.069	0.97 (0.96–1.057)	.82
Putting into perspective	0.91 (0.43–0.98)	.019	0.98 (0.80–1.19)	.86
Self-blame	1.44 (1.11–2.39)	<.001	1.57 (1.02–2.11)	.05
Rumination	1.57 (1.07–3.31)	.001	1.49 (1.11–3.13)	.04
Catastrophizing	1.85 (1.01–4.28)	<.001	0.97 (0.84–1.13)	.76
Blaming others	1.77 (1.04–3.32)	.008	1.12 (0.94–1.34)	.189
QFSSS
Emotional support	0.83 (0.49–0.98)	.010	0.94 (0.65–0.98)	.04
Instrumental support	0.74 (0.28–0.94)	.048	0.99 (0.86–1.13)	.81
Informational support	0.73 (0.43–0.98)	.012	0.98 (0.86–1.12)	.80

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, AB. The data are not publicly available since they contain information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.