Evaluation of family physicians' anxiety during the COVID-19 process: provincial example from Turkey

In the natural progression of COVID-19, recovery usually takes months in most cases. Comprehensive evaluation of underlying complications requires a holistic approach as in primary health care, which creates additional workload and stress for family physicians.

The descriptive-cross-sectional study was carried out in 226 family physicians in Samsun, Turkey. Ethical permissions were obtained to conduct the study. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scale was used as data collection tool.

214 physicians were included in the study. The majority of the participants in the study were female. Most of the family physicians were not specialist physicians. Most of them were married. The majority of family physicians do not smoke and did not have any chronic diseases. The trait anxiety score of the physicians was 43.40 ± 8.50, and the situational anxiety score was 48.09 ± 11.55. The correlation between trait anxiety and situational anxiety was positive and significant. Gender difference did not make a significant difference on anxiety. Anxiety was significantly higher in patients with chronic disease. Marital status, having a child, and a history of COVID disease do not have a significant effect on anxiety.

At the beginning of the COVID pandemic, the greatest struggle was given in secondary and tertiary healthcare institutions. In the following process, this burden shifted to primary health care institutions. This situation has increased the workload and stress of family physicians working in primary care. Therefore, it also increased perceived anxiety. Individuals with high trait anxiety scores have higher state anxiety scores.