Psychological Impact on the Orthodontic Postgraduate Residents and Their Anxiety Level during the COVID-19 Pandemic

BACKGROUND: COVID-19, a viral infection, has negatively impacted the physical and psychological health of the people worldwide. This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study, which aimed to investigate orthodontic postgraduate residents' knowledge regarding COVID-19, its association with anxiety around quality of their training, and performance of routine orthodontic procedures during the pandemic. A questionnaire was circulated online through WhatsApp to the orthodontic residents enrolled in the four-year postgraduate training program across the country which comprised the following sections: demographic data, questions to test knowledge of COVID-19, self-grading of anxiety around performing routine orthodontic procedures, academic aspects of the training program, and residents' thoughts on the current status of their training program in general during the pandemic. The residents were grouped based on their awareness on COVID-19, with >70% score taken as having adequate knowledge and ≤70% as inadequately updated. The association between COVID-19-related knowledge and the anxiety level of the residents experienced during training was assessed. Results were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 23.0. Counts and percentages were reported on baseline characteristics of studied samples. Descriptive methods were used to report the outcomes of this survey on knowledge of COVID-19, anxiety around performing orthodontic procedures, and different academic aspects of training. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 using the Pearson chi square test. RESULTS: Most of the residents (51.5%) were adequately updated about the COVID-19 virus. Increased awareness was associated with more anxiety about the following: contracting the virus (p < 0.01), performing different orthodontic procedures (p < 0.05), disturbed patients' appointments (p < 0.01), timely completion of their cases (p < 0.01), and exam's preparation (p=0.04). The group with <70% COVID-19 related knowledge opted for extension of their training period (51.8%). CONCLUSION: COVID-19 related knowledge was clearly associated with anxiety experienced by the orthodontic residents during training in the pandemic. Awareness regarding the infection led to more anxiety around working during the pandemic, preparing for postgraduate exams, and concerns about its negative influence on the overall quality of the training program.