Mental health status in healthcare workers during COVID-19 pandemic: An online questionnaire study in the southwest Iran.

OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate Mental Health Status, such as stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms, during the Covid-19 pandemic in healthcare workers at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences. METHODS: This study is an online cross-sectional study conducted on healthcare professionals at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Science from November 25, 2020, to March 30 2021. PHQ9 and Kessler collected outcome variables of depression, anxiety, and psychological distress questionnaires. RESULTS: In total, 2552 healthcare workers in 24 hospitals and 212 Comprehensive health centers were enrolled in this study. The mean age of participants was 37.94 ± 8.07 years, and 25.3% were male. There was a significant difference between the mean Kessler and PHQ9 Scale scores on males and females (P< 0.001). Also, the results showed a significant difference between depression, anxiety, and stress and working in the intensive care unit. According to the result of the Kessler scale, 27% of participants had moderate to severe. Most respondents (65.5%) in all professions had moderate to severe mental distress scores according to the Kessler scale. The logistic regression model results illustrated the relationship between depression and anxiety with gender, workplace, support from families, and collogue job satisfaction, and feeling the stress of media coverage of COVID-19 were statistically significant (P< 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The present study revealed that medical and health workers suffer from mental health problems. In this study, up to one-fifth of medical staff had stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms, and more than half had psychological distress. Low educational level, lack of family support, lack of colleague's support, and being a female were the significant risk factors for stress, anxiety, and psychological distress in medical staff.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy and Brief Intervention on Relapse Prevention among Drug Users.

Background: This study aimed to compare the effectiveness and stability of group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and brief intervention (BI) for relapse prevention (RP) among drug users of drop-in-centers (DICs) in Ahvaz, Iran. Methods: The present study was a quasi-experimental one with a pretest-posttest design, a follow-up phase, and a control group. The statistical population included all drug users of drop- in-centers of Ahvaz in 2021. The sample of the study included 78 drug users selected randomly and assigned to two experimental groups and one control group (each 26 members). A morphine test (special kits) that detects the presence of morphine in urine was used to check the relapse. Data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA with SPSS (version 24). Findings: The results showed BI and CBT had a significant effect on reducing RP in drug users (P<0.001). The BI was more effective than CBT for RP. Conclusion: It can be concluded that both BI and CBT can be effective in reducing the likelihood of relapse among drug users but BI is more effective than CBT for RP.