• Rubén Alvarado, Jorge Ramírez, Ítalo Lanio, Margarita Cortés, Joantoniarge Aguirre, Paula Bedregal, Kasim Allel, Thamara Tapia-Muñoz, María Soledad Burrone, Gonzalo Cuadra-Malinarich, Rodrigo Goycolea, Franco Mascayano, Jaime Sapag, Sara Schilling, Gonzalo Soto, Carolina Traub, Sebastián Villarroel, and Sebastián Alarcãn.
• Escuela de Salud Pública, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
• Rev Med Chil. 2021 Aug 1; 149 (8): 1205-1214.

BackgroundHealthcare workers' mental health was affected by SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.AimTo evaluate healthcare workers' mental health and its associated factors during the pandemic in Chile.Material And MethodsAn online self-reported questionnaire was designed including the Goldberg Health Questionnaire, the Patient Health Questionnaire, (PHQ-9), and the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale among other questions. It was sent to 28,038 healthcare workers.ResultsThe questionnaire was answered by 1,934 participants, with a median age of 38 years (74% women). Seventy five percent were professionals, and 48% worked at a hospital. Fifty nine percent of respondents had a risk of having a mental health disorder, and 73% had depressive symptoms. Significant associations were found with sex, workplace, and some of the relevant experiences during the pandemic. Fifty one percent reported the need for mental health support, and 38% of them received it.ConclusionsThere is a high percentage of health workers with symptoms of psychological distress, depression, and suicidal ideas. The gender approach is essential to understand the important differences found. Many health workers who required mental health care did not seek or received it.

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