Prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Its Associated Job Stressors Among Bangladeshi Healthcare Professionals Working in COVID-19 Treatment Units

Background: Health professionals, especially in third world countries like Bangladesh, where the doctor-patient ratio is poor, have witnessed mental distress and deaths helplessly while working in different hospitals with limited resources during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study intended to determine the prevalence and associated job stressors with PTSD among Bangladesh front-liner healthcare workers. Methodology: We conducted this cross-sectional analytical study from January to March 2021, in Dhaka city among the healthcare workers working in COVID-19 dedicated hospitals. We conveniently choose 25 hospitals involved with COVID-19 treatment. A total of 454 healthcare workers were recruited from those 25 hospitals conveniently. We conducted face-to-face interviews with structured questionnaires. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25.0. We conducted a Chi-square test, univariate analysis, and adjusted logistic regression to explore the association of different independent variables with PTSD. Result: Most participants were doctors (44.9%), and females were the predominant respondents (61.5%). PTSD was more prevalent among doctors (38.7%) and male respondents (28.6%). In binary logistic regression analysis adjusting for other covariates, developing PTSD were found to be significantly associated with previously diagnosed as COVID-19 (OR=1.85, p = 0.045, 95% CI=1.013,3.394), unavailability of the service benefits (OR=0.466, p = 0.020, 95% CI=0.245,0.887), having overtime night duty (OR=3.090, p <0.001, 95% CI;1.717,5.558), not being entitled to sick leave (OR=0.450, p = 0.008, 95% CI=0.250,0.808) and not receiving risk allowance (OR=0.314, p = 0.009, 95% CI=0.132,0.748). Conclusion: Findings of this study suggest that the prevalence of PTSD among frontline healthcare workers is very high. Several job stressors, like job insecurity and the absence of different job benefits, negatively influence the mental health of the front-liner health workers. Hospital authorities and health ministry should pay more attention to this population group to ensure their mental soundness and well-being for better patient care. Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. Declaration of Interests: The authors reported no financial or scientific conflicts of interest among them. Ethics Approval Statement: Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB)/Ethical Review Committee (ERC) of North South University (2020/OR-NSU/IRB-No.0901). Wherever possible, the ethical criteria outlined in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent revisions, as well as equivalent ethical norms, were observed. We explicitly explained the details of the survey to each eligible respondent and obtained informed written consent from the respondents. We assured the respondents some ethical point of view that would disclose any part of the interview to any unauthorized person under no circumstances.