The Perceived Stress Level of Health Care and Non-Health Care in Exposed to COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: The sudden outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19) as a deadly disease worldwide has caused widespread psychological problems as well as physical problems. Given the importance of preventing and controlling mental health problems in patients with this disease, the present study was conducted to investigation of the Perceived Stress level of health care and non- health care in Exposed to COVID-19 pandemic. Method & Material: This is a descriptive-cross-sectional study conducted in April 2020. 528 medical and non-medical workers entered the study by simple sampling method. Include criteria as follows Employees exposed to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) who had access to a smartphone. People with a history of mental illness were excluded from the study. The tools used included a demographic questionnaire and the Cohen 10-item Perceived Stress scale that was sent online via a mobile phone. Finding: Among 528 participants in the study, the majority (68.2%) was married (52.7%) were male and (47.3%) were in the age group of 46-46 years. Most research units (90.2%) had moderate stress and (4.2%) had severe stress. The Kruskal–Wallis test showed that students were more stressed than formal and contract workers. Comparing the averages in Mann-Whitney test, women were more stressed than men, people who were not taking medication had more stressed than people who were taking medication, and people with therapeutic occupations were more stressed than Non-therapeutic jobs. Conclusion: The findings of the present study showed the need for more vulnerable groups in society such as women, students and staff of therapeutic occupations in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis prevention and care, which should be reviewed by effective coping strategies and epidemic disease management, access to healing resources and psychological services system should be further strengthened for this group. Also, the planning of national strategies and first aid in crises should be emphasized through telemedicine and online services