Health Anxiety and Its Correlations with Self-Perceived Risk and Attitude on COVID-19 among Malaysian Healthcare Workers during the Pandemic.
Healthcare workers (HCW) are exposed to health-related anxiety in times of pandemic as they are considered to have a high risk of being infected whilst being the vital workforce to manage the outbreak. This study determined the factors that influence health anxiety and its extent in correlations with perceived risk, knowledge, attitude, and practice of HCW. A cross-sectional online survey was conducted on a total of 709 HCW from both public and private healthcare facilities who completed a set of questionnaires on sociodemographic data, knowledge, attitude, and practice of HCW on COVID-19, and health anxiety traits assessed using the short version Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI). Multiple linear regression (adjusted R2 = 0.06) revealed respondents with higher perceived risk for COVID-19 significantly predicted higher HAI scores (beta 1.281, p < 0.001, 95%, CI: 0.64, 1.92), and those with a higher cautious attitude towards COVID-19 significantly predicted higher HAI scores (beta 0.686, p < 0.001, 95%CI: 0.35, 1.02). Healthcare workers' perceived risk and cautious attitude towards COVID-19 might be potentially influenced by management of the sources and approaches to the dissemination of information of the pandemic. The implementation of certain measures that minimize the infection risk and its related anxiety is important to preserve both their physical and psychological wellbeing.
['Mohd Salleh Sahimi|Hajar|H|0000-0002-5753-3479', 'Azman|Nazirah|N|0000-0002-0475-485X', 'Nik Jaafar|Nik Ruzyanei|NR|0000-0002-6262-229X', 'Mohd Daud|Tuti Iryani|TI|0000-0002-9780-1191', 'Baharudin|Azlin|A|', 'Ismail|Ahmad Khaldun|AK|0000-0003-3213-0240', 'Abdul Malek|Akramul Zikri|AZ|', 'Hassan|Mohd Rohaizat|MR|0000-0002-4658-6532', 'Mohammed Nawi|Azmawati|A|0000-0002-0009-5244']
D001007:Anxiety D000086382:COVID-19 D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D006282:Health Personnel D006801:Humans D058873:Pandemics D000086402:SARS-CoV-2 D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
COVID 19 front liners health attitude health risk perception