• Naglaa Youssef, Aya Mostafa, Reem Ezzat, Mostafa Yosef, and Mohamed El Kassas.
• Medical-Surgical Nursing Department, Faculty of Nursing, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
• East. Mediterr. Health J. 2020 Oct 13; 26 (10): 1155-1164.

BackgroundVariable models of care have been adopted in different countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Egypt has assigned certain hospitals specifically for the quarantine of COVID-19 patients, where operational medical teams work continuously for 14 days, after which they are released for self-isolation at home for a similar period.AimsThe study aimed to evaluate and compare perceived adverse psychological symptoms (stress, anxiety, depression), and insomnia by health-care professionals working in quarantine and non-quarantine hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt, and to explore associated factors with adverse psychological symptoms and insomnia.MethodsAn online cross-sectional survey was performed in April 2020, using a snowball sampling method. Sociodemographic information perceived general health, healthy lifestyle, insomnia (using Insomnia Severity Index), adverse psychological symptoms (using the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21), worries and concerns about COVID-19, future perspective about COVID-19, and coping strategies were collected.ResultsFive hundred and forty health-care professionals participated; 10.2% (n=55) worked in quarantine hospitals. Younger age (ORa=0.96, 95% CI:0.93-0.99, ORa=0.95; 95% CI:0.92-0.97; ORa=0.96 CI:0.93-0.99), being not ready/sure of readiness to work in quarantine hospital (ORa=1.91, 95% CI:1.22-3.00; ORa=2.01, 95% CI:1.28-3.15; ORa=1.91, 95% CI:1.22-2.98), and insomnia (ORa=5.22, 95% CI:3.38-8.05; ORa=7.58, 95% CI:4.91-11.68; ORa=6.38 95% CI:4.19-9.73) significantly predicted stress, depression and anxiety, respectively. Being female (ORa=1.59, 95% CI:1.04-2.42; ORa=2.09, 95% CI:1.38-3.16) could also significantly predict stress and anxiety.ConclusionFemale and younger age health care professionals were more prone to report adverse psychological symptoms. More and earlier screening for health-care professionals dealing with COVID-19, in addition to providing psychological support, is highly encouraged.Copyright © World Health Organization (WHO) 2020. Open Access. Some rights reserved. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo).

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