Psychological distress among public and private healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Healthcare workers in both the public and private systems were on the front line of the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. As a consequence, they faced uncertainty, heavy demand, excessive working hours, and the fear of contracting the virus.

Objectives: To investigate the occurrence of psychological distress among public and private healthcare workers at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: An observational, quantitative study was conducted from April to June of 2020, enrolling workers who had cared for suspected and confirmed cases of covid-19 in Brazil. Psychological distress was assessed using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire-20. Associations between the outcome and independent variables were analyzed using the chi-square test.

Results: Majorities of the 400 healthcare workers studied were nursing professionals (69.8%), worked in the Southeast region of Brazil (69.5%), were affiliated to a public healthcare institution (71.8%), and had a mean working week of 45.81 hours. The rate of psychological distress in the sample was 56.8%. There was no statistically significant association between the outcome and the type of organization (public/private). There were associations between psychological distress and professional category and between psychological distress and prior comorbidities.

Conclusions: There was evidence of impact on mental wellbeing irrespective of care level or setting. Psychological distress was one of the greatest challenges faced by the healthcare workers during the pandemic, irrespective of the type of institution, and was a phenomenon of relevance to occupational health in general during the pandemic.