Perceived stress, burnout, and resilience among healthcare workers in a multiple disaster-impacted setting during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: Current literature on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) research presents gaps and opportunities to investigate the psychological experiences of healthcare workers (HCWs) serving in mass trauma situations. We aimed to measure perceived stress, burnout, and resilience in Kashmiri HCWs and explore the relationship of burnout with sociodemographic, work-related, and pandemic-related factors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Data were collected by circulating a web-based questionnaire among HCWs across primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare levels in Kashmir, India. The questionnaire consisted of sections on personal, work-related, and pandemic-related variables as well as validated instruments to measure perceived stress, burnout, and resilience. RESULTS: A total of 514 valid responses were received. More than 80 percent of HCWs had moderate to high perceived stress. The prevalence of personal, work-related, and client-related burnouts was 68, 48.6, and 46 percent, respectively. Resilience was negatively correlated with stress and burnout. Younger (18-28 years), unmarried HCWs, especially junior residents and nurses, had higher burnout levels. Redeployment to deliver COVID-19 duties, unpredictability in work schedule, tested positive for COVID-19, and spending time in isolation/quarantine were also found to be significant risk factors for developing burnout. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly half of the HCWs suffered from burnout, and more than half had moderate to high perceived stress. In addition to pre-existing risk factors of burnout, the pandemic seems to have introduced more occupational risk factors in this disaster-affected area. Lessons learnt from COVID-19 pandemic may help guide need-based intervention strategies designed for specific target population rather than a one size fits all approach.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices about COVID-19 among Kashmiri population: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Nations across the globe are investing enormous resources to contain the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Assessing community knowledge and behavior could help in designing effective health-care policies tailored to the need of target population. AIMS: We aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) about COVID-19 among Kashmiri population and to determine the association of KAP scores with the sociodemographic variables. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional study conducted via various online platforms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A structured questionnaire was formulated which was divided into three scoring sections assessing KAP about COVID-19 and a nonscoring section assessing individual reactions. A link to the survey was disseminated through social media platforms. A total of 1051 individuals participated. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Descriptive statistics were used for assessing the demographic characteristics of participants. Inferential statistics (Mann-Whitney U-test and Kruskal-Wallis test) were used for comparison. RESULTS: Majority of the participants belonged to the age group of 20-39 years (75.4%), were unmarried (66.6%), were from urban background (54.9%), and had education of above high school (96.3%). In general, scores suggested that participants possessed adequate knowledge (mean ± standard deviation: 10.07 ± 1.134), had good attitudes (11.85 ± 1.42), and followed good practices (12.26 ± 1.42) regarding COVID-19. However, we found the correlations between KAP scores to be weak. CONCLUSIONS: A knowledge-praxis gap was highlighted in the studied population which was especially true for the vulnerable age group of > 60 years. The findings call for attention of health-care policymakers to design need-based, locally adaptable, and practicable interventional strategies for target population.