Effect of a psychological intervention on medical personnel with post-contingency anxiety

Unidad de Medicina Familiar Número 22, Teziutlán Puebla. Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social

Abstract

Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, medical personnel became involved in high-stress situations that placed them at risk of psychological disorders such as anxiety.

Objective: You determine the effect of a psychological intervention on medical personnel with post-COVID-19 anxiety.

Material and methods: A quasi-experimental study was carried out, with a population made up of medical personnel corresponding to a Family Medicine unit where patients with confirmed SARS-COV-2 infection were treated, with a stay of more than 1 year in this unit. type of units, which agreed to participate in the study by signing an informed consent. The sample size was census type, excluding administrative personnel, personnel who were sent to confinement, personnel with a diagnosis of anxiety prior to the contingency, medical personnel who did not comply with the post-intervention evaluation, personnel who did not complied with at least 80% of the intervention program, which consisted of the application of a series of conductive-behavioral group activities based on the Group Therapy manual, in addition to the application of guided meditation called Mindfulness that even with the diagnosed with anxiety do not accept psychological intervention. The GAD-7 generalized anxiety scale was applied pre and post intervention, measures of central tendency were used. For statistical analysis, the IBM SPSS Statistics program was used, in addition, a univariate analysis was carried out where measures of central tendency and measurement of frequencies (proportions) for our sociodemographic variants.

Results: A study population of 63 health workers was formed with an average age of 37.5 years, where women predominated (55.6%), the work seniority of 1 to 4 years was (47.6%), the job of doctor (71.4%), the marital status of married (49.2%), only 1.6% were sent to confinement, no participant presented a medical license. Before the intervention, mild anxiety predominated (36.5%), after the intervention minimal anxiety (69.8%). GAD-7 scores decreased in the post-intervention measurement (9.00±5.69 vs 4.22±4.31, p<0.0001).

Conclusions: The implementation of a psychological intervention in health personnel has a positive effect by reducing the level of perceived anxiety.