Level of Stress Among Health Care Workers in COVID-19 Dedicated Setup

Objective: To determine the co-relation between perceived social support and stress among nursing staff working in a COVID-19 dedicated hospital setup. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Armed Forces Institute of Mental Health (AFIMH), Rawalpindi from 30 Aug 2020 to 02 March 2021. Materials and Methods: We consecutively sampled 128 subjects. All participants were requested to complete a brief demographic sheet, Urdu version of the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale 21 (DASS-21) to assess the level of severity of stress among nursing staff and the Urdu version of the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). Data analysis was done using SPSS version 23.0. Results: The mean duration of stay of nursing staff in ward was 4.86 ± 2.28 weeks. Sixty-two (48.44%) nurses had duration of 2 to 4 weeks while 66 (51.56%) nurses had duration of more than 4 weeks of stay in the ward. The mean total stress score was 6.86 ± 5.80. The mean multidimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) score was 47.29 ± 22.53. There was significant negative correlation between MSPSS score and stress score (r= -0.396, p-value < 0.05). Conclusion: Results of this study highlighted that a significant negative co-relation is present between perceived social support and stress among nursing staff working in a COVID-19 dedicated hospital setup.