Anxiety Among Healthcare Workers During COVID-19 Pandemic in Lebanon: The Importance of the Work Environment and Personal Resilience

Figures & data

Table 1 Descriptive Statistics of the Study Population

Variable	Frequency (%) or Mean (SD*)
Gender
Female	63 (70.8%)
Male	26 (29.2%)
Age	34.35 (±8.318)
Nationality
Lebanese	85 (96.6%)
Other	3 (3.4%)
Position
Nursing	29 (33.0%)
Doctor	22 (25.0%)
Clerk	3 (3.4%)
Administrative officer	13 (14.8%)
Technician	3 (3.4%)
Phlebotomist	3 (3.4%)
Other	15 (17.0%)
Marital status
Married	45 (51.1%)
Not Married	43 (48.9%)
Diagnosed with a medical condition
None	67 (73.6%)
Asthma	4 (4.4%)
Autoimmune disease	2 (2.2%)
Diabetes	2 (2.2%)
Heart problems	1 (1.1%)
Hypertension	3 (3.3%)
Others	12 (13.2%)
Vaccinated against COVID-19
Yes	73 (82.0%)
No	16 (18.0%)
Previously got tested for COVID-19
Yes	70 (78.6%)
No	19 (21.4%)
COVID-19 test results
I tested negative for COVID-19	51 (72.9%)
I tested positive for COVID-19	19 (27.1%)
Involved in direct patient care
Yes	66 (75.0%)
No	22 (25.0%)
Worked with patients suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19
Yes	60 (95.2%)
No	3 (4.8%)
Resilience
Very low/low	8 (12.1%)
On the low end/ moderate	31 (47%)
Moderately high/ high	27 (40.9%)

Abbreviation: *SD, standard deviation.

Table 2 Anxiety Score and Categories

Anxiety Score Levels		N (%) (N=81)
0–4 (minimal anxiety)		41 (50.6%)
5–9 (mild anxiety)		26 (32.1%)
10–14 (moderate anxiety)		9 (11.1%)
15–21 (high anxiety)		5 (6.2%)
Median and Percentiles
25th		50th	75th
2.00		4.00	7.00

Table 3 Descriptive Statistics (Frequency and Percentages) of Exposure Variables, PPE Use, and Workplace Factors

Exposures	Categories	N (%) (N=92)
Frequency of working with patients as the primary work activity for the day	Once a month or less	28 (31.8%)
	Weekly (between one to four times)	12 (13.6%)
	4–6 days per week	48 (54.5%)
Working with a COVID-19 positive colleague	Yes	69 (75.0%)
	No	23 (25.0%)
Frequency of close contact with COVID-19 persons (such as family or friends) outside of work	Once a month or less	69 (80.2%)
	1–2 days; 2–4 days; once a week or less	12 (14.0%)
	4–6 days per week	5 (5.8%)
During the last 28 days you worked with patients, where did you primarily work?	At a single primary location (emergency room, primary team, etc.)	41 (68.3%)
	At many locations throughout the hospital (respiratory patients, patient transport, etc.)	14 (23.3%)
	Others	5 (8.3%)
Time spent in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) with known COVID-19 patients	Never	40 (69.0%)
	Sometimes	6 (10.3%)
	About half of the times	3 (5.2%)
	Most of the times	1 (1.7%)
	Always	8 (13.8%)
Time spent in hospital floors with known COVID-19 patients	Never	38 (66.7%)
	Sometimes	12 (21.0%)
	About half of the times	2 (3.5%)
	Most of the times	0 (0.0%)
	Always	5 (8.8%)
Frequency of working closely with COVID-19 patients (within 2 meters)	Never	26 (45.6%)
	Almost never	3(5.3%)
	Sometimes	10 (17.5%)
	Fairly often	3 (5.3%)
	Always	15 (26.3%)
Frequency of performing a procedure or exam on COVID-19 patients	Never	26 (45.6%)
	Almost never	3 (5.3%)
	Sometimes	10 (17.5%)
	Fairly often	3 (5.3%)
	Always	15 (26.3%)
Frequency of performing aerosol generating procedure for COVID-19 patients	Never	32 (55.2%)
	Almost never	1 (1.7%)
	Sometimes	7 (12.1%)
	Fairly often	6 (10.3%)
	Always	12 (20.7%)
Working with PPE on (N95 or respirator)	Never	10 (20.0%)
	Almost never	1 (2.0%)
	Sometimes	4 (8.05)
	Often	6 (12.0%)
	Always	29 (58.0%)
Working with PPE on (surgical face mask)	Never	0 (0.0%)
	Almost never	0 (0.0%)
	Sometimes	0 (0.0%)
	Often	4 (7.8%)
	Always	47 (92.2%)
Working with PPE on (face shield)	Never	13 (26.0%)
	Almost never	10 (20.0%)
	Sometimes	9 (18.0%)
	Often	7 (14.0%)
	Always	11 (22.0%)
Working with PPE on (gloves)	Never	4 (7.8%)
	Almost never	1 (2.0%)
	Sometimes	3 (5.9%)
	Often	7 (13.7%)
	Always	36 (70.6%)
Working with PPE on (gown)	Never	5 (10.2%)
	Almost never	4 (8.2%)
	Sometimes	5 (10.2%)
	Often	12 (24.5%)
	Always	23 (46.9%)
Have been fit tested for N95 mask in the past 3 years	Yes	26 (74.3%)
	No	9 (25.7%)
Received in person training for PPE in the past 3 years	Yes	35 (94.6%)
	No	2 (5.4%)
Received online training for PPE in the past 3 years	Yes	45 (95.7%)
	No	2 (4.3%)
I trust the management of the place where I work	Agree	66 (77.6%)
	Disagree	19 (22.4%)
The safety of workers is a high priority with management where I work	Agree	65 (75.6%)
	Disagree	21 (24.4%)
I have too much work to do everything well	Agree	58 (69.9%)
	Disagree	25 (30.1%)
The safety and health conditions where I work are good	Agree	70 (80.4%)
	Disagree	17 (19.5%)

Table 4 Multivariate Linear Regression Model for Log (Anxiety)

			Exp (95.0% CI)
	B	Exp B	Lower Bound	Upper Bound	P-value
Gender - Female	0.092	1.10	0.89	1.34	0.368
Age (> 35)	0.254	1.29	0.99	1.69	0.063
Marital status – Married	−0.230	0.79	0.61	1.03	0.078
COVID-19 vaccination- No	0.134	1.14	0.86	1.52	0.343
Occupation
Nursing	−0.487	0.61	0.30	1.25	0.175
Doctor	−0.425	0.65	0.24	1.34	0.239
Admin	−0.410	0.66	0.31	1.43	0.285
Technician	−0.198	0.82	0.30	2.27	0.696
Phlebotomist	−0.965	0.38	0.14	1.00	0.051
Other	−0.288	0.75	0.35	1.62	0.453
Resilience
Moderate	−0.240	0.79	0.58	1.07	0.121
High	−0.434	0.65	0.47	0.90	0.011*

Notes: Variables included in the model were: Gender (reference: male); age (reference: ≤35); marital status (reference: not married); position (reference: clerk); COVID-19 vaccination (reference: yes); resilience (reference: low). *Significant P-value<0.05.