Depression, Anxiety and Suicidal ideation of Nurses in the Outbreak of COVID-19: The Role of Demographic Variables

Abstract

Background and Aim: Nurses experience many psychological problems during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. This study aims to investigate the prevalence of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation in nurses during the COVID-19 outbreak, and compare these problems in nurses based on gender, educational level, marital status and department. Methods & Materials: This is a descriptive study conducted on 312 nurses working in hospitals in Malayer, Iran. who were selected using census method. They completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Scale for Suicidal Ideation questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA) were used to analyze the collected data in SPSS v. 24 software. Ethical Considerations: This study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Malayer University (Code: IR.MALAYERU.REC.1399.002). Results: It was reported that 15.38% of nurses had moderate-to-severe depression; 46.47% had moderate-to-severe anxiety, 27.56% had plans for suicide, and 9.94% had active suicidal desire. The results of MANCOVA showed that depression (P=0.009) and anxiety (P=0.001) in female nurses was significantly higher than in male nurses. Depression and suicidal ideation of nurses with bachelor’s degree were higher compared to nurses with master’s degree (P=0.01). Anxiety and suicidal ideation of single nurses were higher compared to married nurses (P=0.01). Nurses in the emergency department (P=0.03), ICU/CCU (P=0.04) were more anxious than the pre-hospital emergency nurses. Conclusion: Prevalence of depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation in nurses during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Iran is high. Therefore, it is recommended to use psychological therapies to reduce their depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation during the outbreak.