Nivel de ansiedad de los profesionales de sala de partos durante la pandemia por COVID-19

BACKGROUND: Work-related stress, fear of becoming infected, and the lack of means to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, added to the situation of lockdown at home could lead to a strong impact on mental health. The objective was to determine the level of anxiety through the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, STAI completed by the professionals of a delivery room who treated COVID-19-positive pregnant women. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Descriptive cross-sectional study in an obstetric area in Barcelona from March 14th to May 24th, 2020. Study population: healthcare staff over 18 years old, without diagnosed anxiety disorders prior to the pandemic. The main parameters to study were the level of «state anxiety» and «trait anxiety» according to the STAI questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed. The level of statistical significance used was p<.05. RESULTS: Seventy-seven professionals participated in this study. The mean score for «state anxiety» was 26.3 points (p-value = .067) and for «strait anxiety», 14.3 points (p-value = .091). It was observed that the professionals who had children (p-value = .048) and the professionals who stated that their family economic income had decreased (p-value = .026) showed higher average scores of «state anxiety». A positive association was observed between years of working experience and the level of «state anxiety», observing statistically significant differences, p-value = .030. CONCLUSIONS: The professionals who had suffered a reduction in their income together with those who lived with children presented higher scores of «state anxiety».