Mental Health Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Medical Technologists in Government Hospitals in Cavite Province

Abstract

With the alarmingly high number of COVID-19 cases, the pandemic continuously poses a great threat to the general public. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at higher risk of contracting the infection as they have direct exposure to the patients. The nature of their profession along with several sociodemographic and work-related factors can affect not only their physical health but also their mental health. Thus, the need to evaluate the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of HCWs such as medical technologists starts to arise. This study aims to assess the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of medical technologists in government hospitals in the province of Cavite. In this cross-sectional study, registered medical technologists in seven government hospitals in Cavite Province will partake in the study. A two-part questionnaire in Google Forms, which is in the form of a link, will be sent via email for the participants to answer. Spearman’s rho correlation will be utilized to analyze the gathered data. A total of 44 registered medical technologists (RMTs) participated in the study which was composed of 29 (65.9%) females and 15 (34.1%) males. Most of the participants (38.6%) belonged to the 21-30 years old age bracket. The RMTs were classified according to their marital status and average monthly income, where the majority are single (61.4%) and earn Php 15,001-30,000 (52.3%), respectively. Their hospital affiliation and number of years in service were also taken into consideration, data shows that most participants came from General Emilio Aguinaldo Memorial Hospital (54.5%) and have been working as a medical technologist for more than 10 years (50.0%). Through the DASS-21, the researchers were able to measure and evaluate the presence of depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms among the respondents. Sociodemographic factors that were identified to have a significant association with the psychological status of the RMTs were age (p = .0015) and sex (p = 0.008 and p = 0.005). While most of the participants (56.8%) were provided with personal protective equipment, the researchers found out that the absence of these supplies is associated with stress (p = 0.026) and depressive (p = 0.016) symptoms among them. The classification of hospitals is not associated with any of the three domains of psychological status. The COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on the mental health of the medical technologists and their work. Age and gender are important factors in determining the severity of the signs and symptoms of psychological distress including depression, anxiety, and stress. The lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) greatly affects their mental health status in the workplace. Moreover, health care workers, like medical technologists, can also experience mental health problems especially during these times, therefore, interventions should be enforced to address these psychological burdens.