The impact of stress and its influencing factors among dentists during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

Background: It is well known that all medical professions are linked to work stress, including dentistry, which is seen as facing high risk due to the nature of the job, especially the working conditions. This study aimed to assess the impact of stress and its influencing factors among dentists during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Bahrain. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was designed to assess the impact of stress and its influencing factors among Bahraini dentists. A total of 306 participants were randomly selected from 1489 registered professionals in the NHRA (National Health Regulatory Authority Bahrain). Results: Out of 306 participants invited in the survey, 253 responded. Overall, the participants reported moderate stress. All the variables of the study showed different effects, but the highest stressor with a strong correlation was “fear of social isolation” (FI) at the significance level of 0.01 (β= 0.393, t= 5.090, p < 0.05= (0.000) with f2 = 0.201 above 0.15 and less than 0.35, which was considered as a moderate effect size of approximately (20%), which strongly supported the hypothesis that researchers have proposed. Overall, the total effect for all stressors was 30 % which was considered as a moderate effect size. All hypotheses were supported except Burden of caring for patients → OUTCOME due to insufficient evidence. R² values of independent variables were above 95% for the variance of dentists’ outcomes, which is considered an excellent fit to the data as evidenced by the squared multiple correlations (R2 ) values for the dependent variables. Conclusions: The study is unique based on its findings that reveal the impact of stress among dentists. Moreover, the results of this study may serve as guidance for future monitoring of dental practitioners’ burnout, anxiety, and workload.