Counseling and Screening for Anxiety and Depression Disorders for Health Workers in Primary Health Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic General

• Posted by: Admin
• Jumat, 15 Juli 2022
• Has been read 71 time(s)

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has become a global health problem and has been declared a pandemic by WHO. This pandemic has been going on for almost 2 years and has affected not only the general public but also health workers. Health workers who work during the COVID-19 pandemic have a high health risk, with a high risk of exposure to the virus, demand for health care, occupational morbidity and mortality, lack of PPE, exposure from infected patients, work overload, poor infection control, infected patient care, as well as fears of transmission risk to their families and themselves. This causes a high number of, not only physical but also mental health problems in health workers. Early psychological interventions targeting this vulnerable group would certainly be beneficial.

Counseling and screening for anxiety and depression disorders for health workers in primary health care during the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the interventions that can be carried out, specifically at the Abiansemal I Primary Health Center, as an early detection and determine the right treatment. This activity is focused on figuring the level of anxiety and depression in health workers at the Abiansemal I Health Center, providing understanding for health workers on how to recognize anxiety and depression disorders due to the pandemic, and as an effort to prevent the risk of worsening symptoms of anxiety and depression in health workers.

This activity was carried out at the Abiansemal I Health Center, with counseling activities held on July 8 2022 with 55 participants attending. Screening was carried out using a standardized questionnaire and providing counseling to the health workers involved including doctors, dentists, nurses, and other health workers. Activities consist of filling out screening forms, topics presentation by the expert followed by question and answer. By holding this, health workers who worked during a pandemic are expected to know and recognize the symptoms of anxiety and depression disorders, especially those caused by the pandemic, so that finally appropriate management can be carried out.

This event began with screening all participants, by giving a questionnaire containing measuring instruments for anxiety and depression disorders. Screening activities are held in advance with the aim of minimizing the occurrence of bias from the presentation on anxiety and depression disorders and how to handle them, so that the anxiety and depression levels of the participants present can be recorded objectively. The event then continued with the presentation of the first material by dr. Ida Aju Kusuma Wardani, SpKJ(K), followed by a second material presentation by dr. Ni Ketut Putri Ariani, SpKJ(K) which lasted 20 minutes each. After that, the event continued with a joint discussion session for 20 minutes, directly addressed to the two speakers. The event was then closed by giving feedback from the participants to the activity implementing committee.