Stress coping strategies of Iranian healthcare staff during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed healthcare staff to mental distress. Given the importance of applying effective strategies to cope with stress caused by COVID-19, this study aimed to assess the stress-coping strategies of Iranian healthcare providers. This cross-sectional study was performed through a web-based survey. Data collection was done online using a demographic data questionnaire and the short form of Endler and Parker’s coping inventory. The mean scores of task-oriented strategies (27.06 ± 5.13) were higher than avoidance-oriented (19.42 ± 5.77) and emotion-oriented strategies (18.45 ± 5.76), and the healthcare workers mainly used task-oriented styles to cope with COVID-19-related stress. There was a significant difference between the score of task-oriented strategy in terms of age groups (P < 0.001), work experience (P = 0.018), level of education (P < 0.001), having children (P = 0.002), and type of hospital (P = 0.028). The score of task-oriented strategies was lower in employees who were in the age group of 20–30 years and had less than 10 years of work experience, and it was higher in employees who had children, worked in private hospitals, and had a master's degree or higher. The score of emotion-oriented strategies in the age group of 51–60 years was significantly lower than other age groups (P < 0.01) and was significantly higher in employees with a bachelor's degree than those with a master's degree or higher (P = 0.017). There was no significant difference between the scores of avoidance-oriented strategies and any socio-demographic variables. According to the findings of this study, young and less experienced employees were more inclined to utilize emotion-oriented coping styles. Therefore, considering appropriate training programs for these employees to apply effective coping strategies is extremely important.