Anxiety, strategies and resources for coping of health workers on the first line covid-19 of the first level of care, Cajamarca, 2021

Abstract

The COVID 19 pandemic causes a serious disorder to the health system throughout the world, with a great effect on mental health in those who provide health services, one of the manifestations being anxiety; The magnitude of this problem in the health workers of the first level of care in Cajamarca is unknown, so a cross-sectional descriptive study is carried out with the objective of describing the anxiety, coping strategies and support resources that workers prefer.To a sample of 122 health workers (95% CI), a questionnaire is applied that collects data regarding the characteristics of health workers and health establishments; A GAD-7 test is administered to screen for anxiety and a questionnaire on coping strategies and support resources with rating scales. The prevalence of anxiety symptoms is 54.1%; corresponding to mild (32.8%), moderate and severe (10.7% respectively). 92.6% use at least one or more coping strategies, 95.9% have some level of interest in one or more proposed support resources; anxiety is more frequent in those who are interested in at least one support resource and independently in 3 of these (P <0.05). Concluding that during the COVID-19 pandemic there is a high prevalence of anxiety, one in 5 health workers requires intervention from a mental health specialist due to symptoms of moderate and severe anxiety, the majority use coping strategies and have preferences for support resources proposed