Resilience and its impact on the mental health of physiotherapists during the COVID-19 pandemic in São Paulo, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: To analyze whether resilience modulates the levels of depression, anxiety, stress and the impact of events in physiotherapists who work with COVID-19 patients with those who do not.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from August 2020 up to October 2020. A total of 519 physiotherapists were enrolled and divided according to resilience and whether they worked with COVID-19 patients. Volunteers answered sociodemographic questionnaires, rating their depression, anxiety, and stress on a scale (DASS-21). The impact of event scale revised (IES-R) and 14-item resilience scale (14-RS) were also used.

Results: Physiotherapists with low resilience present scores significantly high of depression, anxiety, stress and impact of event compared to the high resilience group (P < .001). Additionally, working with COVID-19 patients also resulted in increased levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and impact of event compared with the NO COVID-19 group (P < .001). These responses were modulated by age, sex, number of absences from work, whether or not personal protective equipment was received, host leadership, and the practice and maintenance of regular physical activity.

Limitations: The responses to the questionnaires were anonymous and self-administered. We cannot assess whether these people had a previous diagnosis of depression, anxiety and stress.

Conclusions: Low resilience and work with COVID-19 patients were associated with high levels of depression, anxiety, and stress and worse psychological impacts of events. Several aspects modulate these responses and can contribute to improving the resilience and mental health of physiotherapists who are responsible for the care of COVID-19 patients.

Keywords: Anxiety; COVID-19; Depression; Physiotherapists; Resilience; Stress.