Associations and Prevalence of Anxiety, Depression, Perceived Vulnerability to Disease and the Fear of COVID-19 among Nigerian Healthcare Workers

Abstract

Health care workers are frontline staff in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. To win this fight, their mental wellness cannot be overemphasized. This study assesses Anxiety and Depression severities, perceived vulnerability to diseases, and their link with the fear of COVID-19 among Nigerian Healthcare Workers (HCWs). A purposefully selected sample of 413 healthcare workers from two tertiary health care institutions in Benin City, Edo State, South-South Nigeria responded to the Fear of COVID-19 Scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale. A high prevalence of anxiety, depression, and perceived vulnerability to diseases was observed. Perceived infectability (β = .244, p = .000) and germ aversion (β = .166, p = .000) and composite PVD (β = .96, p = .000) were found to predict Fear of COVID-19 independently and significantly, reporting 7.5%; 3.3% and 9.9% variance in the severities of Fear of COVID-19, respectively. Anxiety and depression showed a significant joint prediction of Fear of COVID-19 severity, accounting for a 4.0% variance in the severity. Fear of COVID-19 was not found to be influenced by sex or job type difference among the HCWs. There is a high prevalence of anxiety, depression, and perceived vulnerability to COVID-19 among Nigerian HCWs. These reported symptoms of psychopathology are also strong independent and joint predictors of fear of COVID-19.