psychological distress and coping strategies among clinicians and medical students during the covid-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in guilan, iran

Background: coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic can lead to psychological distress among clinicians and medical students due to the possibility of disease transmission and closure of educational centers. objectives: this study aimed to investigate the extent of psychological distress and coping strategiesamongclinicians and medical students during the covid-19 pandemic in rasht, iran. methods: using the kessler psychological distress scale (k10), this cross-sectional analytical study evaluated psychological distress and coping strategies among 109 clinicians and medical students working in razi hospital of rasht, iran during the covid-19 pandemic. the k10 scale has 10 items with a 5-point likert scale ranging from 0 (never) to 5 (always); the cronbach’s alpha coefficient was calculated as 0.771. also, to examine the coping strategies, a 10-item researcher-made checklist was used (cvi = 0.79; cvr = 0.82). the questionnaires were distributed by e-mail from may to june, 2020. after entering the data into spss software (version 20), the data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tests. results: the mean age of the responders was 36.14 years (sd = 10.68). the mean k10 total scores was 12.94 (sd = 7.64). there was a significant negative correlation between age and k10 total scores (r = -0.397, p < 0.001). single participants had a higher k10 total score compared with married ones (p = 0.003). furthermore, interns had a higher k10 total score compared with residents (p = 0.012) and faculty members (p < 0.001). conclusions: since interns are at a higher risk of psychological distress due to less work experience during the covid-19 pandemic, continuous monitoring of psychological distress and teaching coping strategies in crisis situations should be included in the training curriculum and educational courses of this group.