Increased levels of anxiety, depression, and secondary trauma in radiation oncologists during COVID-19 pandemic: a preliminary report from Turkey

Abstract

Objective:we surveyed the anxiety, depression, and secondary trauma levels of Turkish Radiation Oncologists related with COVID pandemics. Methods: an anonymous online questionnaire survey was created to evaluate levels of depression, anxiety, and secondary trauma among Turkish Radiation Oncologists. The survey included demographics and occupational status, Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSSS), The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). Results: seventy-two respondents provided the power of about 91.4% for the significance level of 0.05. The variance homogeneity was checked by the Levene test, the effect of COVID-19 on psychology is higher in the group of >19 (9.02 +/- 0.820), as well as the effect of social isolation (8.02 +/- 1.622), the STSS scores (34.28 +/- 9.062), the STAIS scores (60.46 +/- 5.296), the STAIT scores (82.21 +/- 9.298), the BDI scores (22.68 +/- 2.788), and the BAI scores (21.04 +/- 9.321). The multiple regressions to estimate BDI revealed statistically significant effects in STAIS, BAI, and STAIT. There is a significant correlation between STSS, STAIS, STAIT, BDI, BAI, the effect of COVID-19 on psychology, and the effect of social isolation. Conclusion: we have established one of the first studies demonstrating the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on depression, anxiety levels, and secondary trauma on a special physician population, the Radiation Oncologists, who specifically do not directly take part in COVID19 management.