The effect of COVID-19 on employees' mental health

Long lockdowns, food shortages, and the inability to receive basic primary healthcare have aggravated the effects of pandemics. However, most studies have focused on the health problems of the infected people or the measures employed to keep the disease under control. This cross-sectional study focused primarily on the mental health issues of employees. By employing a convenient sampling method, we reached 237 respondents (135 with coronavirus history) to assess the impact of the pandemic on employees. Multivariate causal relationships were assessed with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The predictors included internal entrapment (INT) and difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), which are significant predictors of depression (DEPR). DIF was found to be a significant predictor of INT and EXT feelings, while FEAR was found to be a significant predictor of INT, DIF, and DEPR. Quality of life (QoL) was found to be a significant predictor of DIF and DDF, DEPR, EXT and INT, and FEAR. The results also showed that DIF mainly manifested its effect on depression through INT. The DEPR level of employees working only from home was higher than that of other employees. The depression levels of women, young employees, and those whose QoL was adversely affected by the coronavirus were higher than the rest.